Strength to Protect What Matters
by actress4him
Summary: Life is finally settling down for the Keyblade heroes, back home after KH3D. But the peace and quiet won't last long, because Heartless are popping up all over the map again, and no one knows where they're coming from. When a simple reconnaissance mission goes terribly wrong, a life hangs in the balance, and it's a race against the clock to save their friend before it's too late.
1. Master Riku

The sunlight reflecting off of the bright white sand in the training arena was beginning to give Riku a headache. Either that, or perhaps it had something to do with the amount of yelling he had been doing today. Rubbing his fingers across his forehead, he heaved a sigh. "Lea, for the last time, this is not one of your chakrams. You have got to stop throwing it."

"Aw, come on, I've seen you and Sora throw your Keyblades before," Lea argued, stooping to retrieve his wooden training sword from the sand.

Riku tossed his hand into the air in exasperation. "Yes, that's true. But that's a much more...advanced move. It'll be a while before we get that far." A very long while, he thought to himself, if today's lesson was any indication. "And Kairi, you're still treating it more like a tennis racket than a sword. Less wrist, and less defensive swinging. You need to go on the offense more."

Nodding, Kairi chewed on her bottom lip, brows furrowed. "More offense. Okay." She lifted her sword up next to her face and pointed it at Lea, ready to go again.

Riku shook his head and waved her off. "That's enough sparring for now."

"Break time?" Lea asked excitedly.

"Lap time," Riku countered. "Give me ten. Then we'll talk breaks."

Groaning loudly, Lea slumped over as if he might collapse and dropped his sword back onto the ground. Kairi tossed hers neatly into the barrel where they were normally kept and jogged off, grabbing Lea's arm as she passed and dragging him with her.

"Come on, lazy bum," she teased. "It's just ten laps. You'll survive."

Riku crossed to a bench in the shade of a couple of palm trees and sat, watching as Lea reluctantly broke into a run and followed Kairi onto the track that encircled the arena. He grabbed his water bottle from underneath the bench, then sighed again before twisting off the cap and taking a few gulps.

When he had become a Keyblade Master, it had seemed so surreal. He really wasn't sure at the time if he actually deserved it, and days like this made him question it all over again. Sure, he had jumped at the chance to help with Kairi and Lea's training, but it had been a lot harder than he had ever imagined. Sometimes he wondered whether he was really qualified to be their teacher.

"Riku!"

Sora's cheerful voice broke through Riku's thoughts, and he turned to see his friend topping the hill with a wave and crossing the arena. Giving a nod of greeting, Riku moved down the bench to make room for Sora to sit.

"How's training going?" Sora asked, his eyes following the two students as they passed by.

Riku snorted slightly. "Let's just say today has been...challenging." He shook a lock of silver hair off his forehead. "If a Heartless army attacked right now, I don't think either of them would last very long."

"Well, then let's be thankful that there are no Heartless armies around," Sora laughed. "But seriously, you should give them more credit. Yourself, too, for that matter. We all have off days, but I've seen what they can do. They've come a long way since you first started with them. You're doing a great job."

How did Sora always seem to be able to read his mind? Somehow he could come up with just the right thing to say to make Riku feel better every time. He was right, of course. They had come a long way. Kairi was really the perfect pupil, always trying her hardest, asking all the right questions, and listening to everything Riku said. She had her struggles, of course, but was overall a quick learner, especially when it came to magic. Lea was, of course, the harder to deal with of the two, but he had been learning plenty, too, and acing everything that Riku threw at him, even if it took a few tries. His main problem, besides his attitude, was that he had a slightly different idea of how long and how often the training should be, and loved to make that known to everyone.

"Thanks," Riku said after a moment. "You're right. They'll get there eventually."

"So when are you gonna let them start using their actual Keyblades to spar?" Sora asked, nodding towards the wooden sword on the ground.

"When I'm sure they won't kill each other," Riku replied flatly, remembering their flailing sparring match moments earlier. "Which could be a while."

Sora laughed. "You know, you and I haven't sparred in like...forever." He reached out his hand suddenly and summoned Kingdom Key, making Riku jump slightly.

"Oh, no." Riku waved his hands in disagreement. "Don't even think about it."

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Sora prodded, jumping up to face Riku and taking his two-handed battle stance.

"Nuh-uh." Shaking his head vehemently, Riku crossed his arms over his chest. "Not gonna happen." He was in the middle of a training session, after all. Now was not the time for goofing off.

"You're just afraid I'm gonna beat you, _Master Riku_ ," Sora challenged, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Riku raised an eyebrow and glared at his friend's grinning face. The gauntlet had been thrown, and he knew that he had to pick it up, otherwise he'd never hear the end of it. The look on Sora's face said that he knew, too. Still, maybe he could at least catch him off guard at the start.

In one swift movement, Riku leaped to his feet while summoning Way to the Dawn and swinging it up to meet Sora's Keyblade. Surprise registered in Sora's eyes, but he still managed to block the attack with ease. His smile widened as he backed into the arena, keeping his eye on Riku.

"Alright, Master Riku," he said playfully. "Let's show these students what a real sparring match looks like."

Jumping forward, Riku swung his Keyblade rapidly, with Sora matching him stroke for stroke. Their metal blades clashed noisily on first one side, then the other, up in front of their faces then down by their knees, in such swift succession that they were almost just a blur. Out of the corner of his eye, Riku could see Lea and Kairi slow to a stop and heard them begin to cheer – though he couldn't tell whether the cheers were for Sora or himself. He had a feeling that Kairi would be rooting for them both equally, out of loyalty, while Lea would be hoping to see his teacher fail so that he could have a good laugh at Riku's expense.

Even more determined now, Riku lifted his Keyblade and thrust it into the air above his head, letting loose a whirlwind that sent Sora flying backwards across the arena. He landed on his back in the soft sand, but had his Keyblade up in an instant, ready to block Riku's next attack.

"You wanna play with magic, huh?" Sora smirked as he struggled back to his feet in between swings. "Then here, take this!" He pointed his Keyblade at Riku's feet and shot a blast of ice, which Riku narrowly dodged by leaping backwards. The blasts kept coming, though, and after a few near-misses he was forced to tap into his darkness to roll speedily away to the other side of the arena. When he reappeared, he could see Sora's eyes still trying to catch up to him. That split-second opportunity was all he needed to cast his own Blizzard spell, effectively freezing Sora's feet to the ground.

"Hey!" Sora complained. "Using darkness to win, that's no fair!"

Riku strolled triumphantly over toward his friend and knocked him playfully on the head. "You're just mad because you can't do it." The sound of applause caught his attention, and he turned to see Kairi and Lea approaching.

"Very impressive," said Lea, giving Riku a slap on the back. "Guess there's a reason you're in charge, huh?"

"You both did great," Kairi put in. "I can't wait until I can use magic like that."

"Yeah, when do we get to learn that wind thing you did?" Lea asked.

"After you master the basic spells I'm teaching you now," Riku answered, dismissing his Keyblade. "There will be plenty of time for the other stuff later."

Kairi glanced down at Sora's still-frozen feet, a slight look of concern on her face. "So, um...when does that go away?"

Sora laughed. "Should be right about...now!" Sure enough, at that moment the ice melted with a splash. He shook the water away and gave Riku's shoulder a shove. "Thanks a lot, now I've got to go home and change shoes."

"Hey, you were trying to do the same thing to me," Riku replied. "Now, I believe you two have a few more laps to finish." He pointed toward the track.

Now Kairi and Lea both groaned. "Fine," Kairi said as Riku waved them off. "But this time no distracting us!"

"We should do that more often," Sora commented, walking back to the bench and taking a seat.

Riku followed him. "Why, do you enjoy losing?"

"No!" Sora shot back. "And next time I won't!" He paused, watching the other two run again. "What I meant was, it keeps me in shape. You never know when we're gonna need to fight again for real."

"Normal life getting to you already?" Riku teased.

Sora laughed. "Some days I'm bored out of my mind, to tell you the truth! But no, I'm glad life is normal again. It may not last, but I think we've earned a little peace and quiet, don't you?"

Sighing, Riku let his mind flit back over the last couple of years, full of adventure, disaster, and heartache. "Yeah," he agreed. "I sure hope so."


	2. Romeo and Juliet

"Sora, would you like to share your opinion with the class?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked three times, turning his head from the window back to the teacher who stood over him with her hands on her hips. He had been caught daydreaming. Again.

"Your opinion. On the topic we were just discussing?" Mrs. Akiyama tapped her foot impatiently.

"Uhh..." Sora could hear his classmates snickering all around him, including Kairi, whose desk was to his left. He looked up at the blackboard and scanned the heading scrawled across the top. Shakespeare, right. Romeo and Juliet. For a moment he had forgotten what class he was even in. "Um...I'd like to hear some more of their opinions before I form mine...?" he ventured.

Pursing her lips, the teacher raised an eyebrow, but apparently decided to let him get away with it this time. She moved on to Kairi, who proceeded to give an eloquent explanation that Sora only half-understood. Whew. Somehow he had managed to avoid that one, but there was a chance she would be back after a few minutes. He had better actually listen now and figure out what he was supposed to be forming an opinion on.

To his relief, after a couple more students had given their input, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Slamming his book shut, Sora felt a foot nudging his and turned to see Kairi smiling at him.

"So, where were you this time?" she asked, giggling.

Sora grinned sheepishly. "Wonderland," he answered.

Kairi tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm...shrinking potions and mysterious disappearing cats, right?"

"Yep, that's the one," Sora nodded. "Man, that place was confusing." A shadow crossed his desk and he looked up with a jerk. He gulped when he saw Mrs. Akiyama staring down at him again. Maybe he hadn't been so lucky, after all.

"Here's your make up work for this week, Sora," she said, holding out a thin folder. Taking it, Sora nodded and mumbled a thank you.

"Tomorrow we'll be continuing our discussion on Romeo and Juliet falling in love at a young age, and whether it contributed to their untimely demise," Mrs. Akiyama added, "And I'll expect you to be the first to share your thoughts."

Nodding again, Sora quickly gathered his belongings and stood. Kairi was already waiting for him by the door. "Ready for lunch?" she asked.

"I'm starving," Sora agreed. As they headed down the crowded hallway towards their lockers, Sora glanced inside the folder Mrs. Akiyama had given him. "Ugh, when will the make up work end?"

"Well, you were gone for a pretty long time," Kairi reminded him. "You missed a lot of school."

"Yeah, I know. But Shakespeare is the worst," Sora grumbled.

"What, you mean you don't have an opinion about Romeo and Juliet, and whether or not they were old enough for true love?"

Sora shrugged. "Why shouldn't they be old enough? I don't think you have to be an adult to know who you want to be with." He looked at Kairi out of the corner of his eye, watching as she tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. His heart skipped a beat. "I think you can find love no matter what age you are," he finished decisively.

"Are you speaking from personal experience?" Kairi smiled at him, a mischievous twinkle in her blue eyes.

"What?" Sora could feel his face grow warm. "No! Um...I mean...I..." Yes, he was. But he didn't want her to know that. On the other hand, if she felt the same way about him, he didn't want her to think that he didn't mean that.

"You're walking right past your locker, silly," Kairi interrupted his swirling thoughts.

"Oh. Right." Fumbling with the dial, Sora managed to get the locker open and shoved his books inside, mentally ordering his face to cool back down and look normal.

"Anyway," Kairi said from behind her locker door. "You don't have to be embarrassed. I had basically the same answer in class, remember?" She pulled out her lunch and shut the door. "Or were you back in Wonderland again by then?" she teased.

"N-no, I was listening," Sora stammered. He was sort of listening, anyway. Now that she mentioned it, he did remember her saying something about young people knowing their hearts well.

"Tomorrow in class you should tell Mrs. Akiyama what you just told me," Kairi commented. "It's a good answer."

"Oh, okay. Yeah." Grabbing his own lunch, he slammed the locker closed and changed the subject. "Bet Riku's already waiting for us."

"Probably. Let's go!"

When they reached the cafeteria, they quickly spotted Riku sitting at their usual table. Sora plopped down in the seat across from him, with Kairi sliding in to Sora's right. Riku was pushing the food on his tray around with a fork, not seeming to have actually eaten much so far.

"That looks gross," Sora observed, nodding at Riku's food. Kairi kicked his leg under the table and he looked at her in surprise. She raised her eyebrows at him. Oh, right. They weren't supposed to draw attention to Riku's cafeteria lunches.

"Yeah, it kinda is," Riku replied glumly. Dropping the fork, he shoved the tray back. "Oh well, I wasn't that hungry, anyway."

Sora felt bad for the guy. His mom was always so busy working to provide for the two of them, she rarely had time to cook or make lunches herself. Riku had stepped up and actually gotten pretty good at doing the cooking himself, but some weeks when money was low or time was tight, they started to run out of groceries and he ended up with cafeteria food.

"Hey, I've got a really big sandwich in here today," Sora said, opening up his lunch tin. "You want half of it?"

Riku shook his head. "Nope. I'm fine. You eat it."

"No, seriously." Sora unwrapped the sandwich and held half of it out to his friend. "This thing is huge, I'm not gonna eat all of it. It'll just go to waste if you don't eat it."

Sighing, Riku studied the proffered sandwich for a moment before finally reaching out and taking it. "Okay. Just because I know you won't give up until I do." His words sounded grumpy, but Sora could see the gratitude in his eyes.

"Take some apple slices, too," Kairi offered, pushing a napkin full of them across the table. "I've got way too many." Sora glanced inside her box and saw that only two slices were left.

Riku smiled slightly. "Thanks, guys." Taking a bite of the sandwich, he chewed thoughtfully. "You have Mr. Mori next, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Sora answered. "Don't tell me he's giving pop quizzes today," he sighed.

"No." Riku picked up a thick folder from the seat next to him and tossed it onto the table with a thud. "Just thought I'd warn you that he's feeling generous with the make up work this week."

Groaning, Sora dropped his head down onto the table. "We're going to be doing make up work for the rest of our lives!"

Kairi giggled. "Well, maybe next time you go off to save the world you should do it over summer vacation."

Lifting his head, Sora glared at her playfully. "Yeah, I'll be sure to tell Xehanort that whenever I see him." Riku and Kairi laughed, and Sora joined in.

"At least this is just math," Kairi continued. "You like math!"

"It's alright," Sora admitted. "It's a whole lot better than Shakespeare, that's for sure."

"Oh, I don't know," said Kairi, resting her chin in her hand. "Shakespeare isn't all that bad. It can get a bit dry sometimes, sure, but it can also be awfully romantic."

Sora watched the dreamy smile spread across her face and couldn't help but smile himself. She was so cute when she got lost in thought like that. She probably wouldn't even get in trouble if she got caught daydreaming in class. Those eyes and that smile were too adorable to resist.

Riku cleared his throat, and Sora jerked back to the present. The older boy was watching the two of them with one raised eyebrow, obviously amused. "Anyway," he said. "If you want to come over tonight, we can work on it together. Obviously I can't do it until after training, though."

"Or you could both come over to my house," Kairi suggested. "We could all do our homework together that way."

Sitting up straight, Sora gave her a big grin. "Do you think your mom will make cookies?" he asked excitedly.

Kairi laughed. "I'll let her know you're coming, and I'm sure she will."

"Yes!" Sora cheered, pounding his fist on the table. "Your mom makes the best cookies ever."

"Then it's a deal," said Riku, standing up as the bell rang once more. "I'll see you guys after school."


	3. Love and Pizza

Pausing in front of her open closet, Kairi tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully. She had rushed right home after training so that she could get a shower and be ready for study time, but now here she was wrapped in a towel and unable to decide what to wear. At least she hadn't heard the boys arrive yet. Riku had planned on stopping by Sora's house for a shower, since it was on the way. They could be here any minute, though.

Finally she gave up and grabbed a fitted t-shirt and some shorts off of their hangers. It would be comfortable, but still cute enough. She dressed quickly, then picked the towel back up off of the bed and rubbed her hair vigorously. As she took a last look in her full-length mirror, she heard a knock on the front door downstairs. Guess her hair would just have to still be a bit damp.

Sliding her hand along the smooth wooden banister, Kairi flitted down the stairs and into the empty foyer. The aroma wafting in from the kitchen had obviously already drawn the boys that direction, so she followed.

"It smells amazing in here," Sora was saying as she entered the kitchen. He was practically drooling.

"When Mom found out you were going to be here right at dinner time, she decided that just cookies wouldn't be enough," Kairi smiled. "So she made some of her famous homemade pizza."

"So...no cookies?" Sora asked, clearly a bit disappointed.

Kairi's mom laughed as she pulled a mixing bowl full of dough out of the refrigerator. "Don't worry, Sora. The cookies go in the oven next."

Sora beamed. "You're the best!" Pulling out a stool, he took a seat at the counter. "I mean, other than my mom," he corrected himself. "She's the best, too, of course. But she doesn't usually make me cookies."

"Should we get started while we wait on the pizza to get ready?" Kairi asked, moving her backpack off of another stool and sitting down.

"I guess," Sora sighed, reluctantly unzipping his own backpack and removing the folders from inside.

"Might as well," agreed Riku as he claimed the third stool.

"What do you want to start on first?" questioned Kairi. "Regular homework, or make up work?"

"I'm gonna start with Shakespeare," Sora decided. "That way I can make sure to get it out of the way while you're here to explain it to me."

"It's not that complicated," said Riku sarcastically. "People fall in love, have sword fights, and die of broken hearts. That's about it."

"Well they could do all of that in words that I could actually understand!" Sora complained.

Kairi rolled her eyes but couldn't help but giggle a little. Sora was especially adorable when he got frustrated. "There's a bit more to it than that, anyway," she explained. "Yes, the language can be difficult to get past, but some of the stories are really great!" Taking the folder from Sora, she flipped it open and read the heading. "Oh, okay, this is from when we studied Merchant of Venice. You've read the play, right?"

"Yeah, but I didn't really get it," said Sora pitifully.

Launching into a detailed summary, Kairi momentarily lost herself in the story line. She wasn't sure exactly how long she had been going when she felt a slight tug on a small piece of her hair and stopped talking abruptly. Sora was holding the strands in between two of his fingers, gazing at them with a faraway look in his eyes. A slight shiver went down her spine. She didn't know whether to chide him for touching her hair without asking, or stay silent and hope that he continued playing with it.

After a long pause, Sora finally seemed to come to his senses and realize that she was watching him and that he was, in fact, touching her hair. He dropped it and jumped back as if it had burned his fingers. "I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, scratching the back of his head nervously. "I don't...know...I...uh..." He was obviously struggling to explain himself, and Kairi felt a little bad for him. She did want to know what had been going through his mind, though.

"It was wet," he finally stated. "Your hair...it's wet." He buried his red face in his hands, elbows propped on the counter. "I'm sorry."

Kairi reached over to touch his arm. "It's okay," she reassured him. When he looked up at her, she smiled. "I didn't mind." It had actually felt really nice. Sora broke into a small smile, too, and his face began to return to its normal color.

"Wait, what just happened?" Riku broke in, leaning forward to look at them. He had been engrossed in his homework and apparently, thankfully, had missed the whole thing.

"Nothing!" Kairi and Sora replied in unison.

"Uh-huh, sure," Riku said, obviously not convinced, but returning to his work nonetheless.

Kairi drew in a breath to steady her nerves. "Um, why don't you just start looking at the worksheet and see if there are any questions you can answer yourself, while I start on my stuff?"

As Sora complied, Kairi's mom returned to the kitchen to check on dinner, and Kairi breathed a sigh of relief that she had not been present during that whole exchange. There was no way that she would have missed it had she been there, and that would have ended with a whole barrage of questions for her daughter later that night. Not that Kairi normally minded answering her moms questions, but she really wasn't sure that she knew the answers for these yet herself.

Staring down at her book, she read the first question for the third time without comprehending it. She definitely felt something different for Sora, that she knew. What exactly it was, she wasn't quite sure yet. If Riku or anyone else had tried playing with her hair, she would have just swatted them away. But with Sora, it had left her wanting more. She had loved these two boys for practically her whole life as her best friends, but this feeling for Sora was new. His smile, his laugh, his contagious joy brightened her day, and his touch made her skin tingle. One look from him could make her want to melt. All of her life she had read about love in stories, but could this really be what it felt like?

"Pizza's ready!" Kairi's mom interrupted her thoughts, setting the pan on the counter across from them.

"Great!" Riku and Sora both leaned forward and snatched up a slice, stuffing it into their mouths as if they hadn't eaten all day. Kairi's mom tsked at them in disapproval, but instead of chastising them, she simply retrieved three plates from the cabinet and passed them out.

"Thanks, Mom," Kairi smiled, grabbing her own piece and setting it onto the plate in front of her.

"Fanks Mum!" Sora parroted with a mouthful of pizza, cheese stringing from his lips to the slice in his hand.

Riku finished chewing his bite and swallowed before speaking. "Yeah, thanks a bunch. This is delicious."

Kairi's mom reached out and patted both the boys' cheeks affectionately. "You're very welcome, dears. Now make me proud and knock out that homework."

"I love your mom," Sora sighed contentedly, picking up another slice of pizza as she left the kitchen again.

Lifting her own pizza to her mouth, Kairi smiled to herself. At least she knew that if she and Sora did end up together someday, he would get along well with her parents. They already basically saw him and Riku as their sons, anyway.

But the real question was, how did Sora feel about her? She felt pretty sure that he shared her feelings, but she didn't want to assume too much. He had definitely been acting differently around her a lot of the time, almost as if he was nervous, ever since they had first seen each other again after their long separation. Add to that the times that she caught him just staring at her, and today playing with her hair, and it certainly seemed like he liked her as more than just a friend.

Maybe she should ask Riku. Chances were good that if Sora had feelings for her, Riku would know about it. Then another thought hit her. Riku! What would he think about all of this? Wouldn't it be awkward for him if his two best friends ended up dating? Would he feel left out, or lonely? He would probably never let on if he did. Sharing feelings was not Riku's specialty. But she couldn't stand it if she knew they were hurting him in any way. Without realizing what she was doing, Kairi let out a frustrated sigh.

"What's the matter?" asked Sora.

"Nothing," Kairi replied quickly, smiling at him. "Ready to tackle some more Merchant of Venice?"


	4. Sea Salt Ice Cream

"Come on, Riku," Lea whined, letting his Keyblade drag on the ground. "Let's take a break!"

Riku sighed in exasperation. "You just had a break half an hour ago."

"But we've been out here for hours!" Lea pressed. "It's hot, and I'm tired!"

Crossing his arms, Riku shook his head firmly. "You think you won't be tired when you're out there fighting Heartless? Now take it again."

Lea groaned and lifted his Keyblade, ignoring Kairi's snickering from nearby. When he had asked for a Keyblade, he had never expected so much training to go with it. They were up here in the training arena every single day after the younger two got out of school, and even longer on Saturdays like today. Riku wasn't messing around, either. It was clear that he had very high expectations for his two students, and he didn't tolerate slacking off.

"Hold the Keyblade with both hands, and point it straight at the target," Riku instructed.

"All of this work for a simple Fire spell," Lea muttered, still procrastinating. "You do know who you're talking to, right? Fire is kinda my thing."

"Just do the spell."

Begrudgingly, Lea did as he was told. "Fire!" he shouted, jerking to the left at the last second. Flames leaped from the end of his Keyblade and engulfed a bush a few feet away from the target.

Riku quickly summoned his own Keyblade and cast a Blizzaga spell onto the bush, immediately putting out the fire. Turning, he glared at Lea. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Trying not to laugh, Lea put on his best innocent expression and shrugged his shoulders. "Oops?"

Sighing, Riku placed his hand on his forehead and shook his head again. "Fine. Take five. I'll work with Kairi for a while."

"Thanks, boss," Lea grinned, giving a playful salute. Dismissing his Keyblade, he crossed to the bench on the far side of the arena and took a seat, stretching one of his legs out across it. The bench afforded a great view of the beach and the ocean down below, stretching on as far as the eye could see. Lea took a deep breath of the salty air. He had never imagined himself living in a place like this, but he had to admit, it was a refreshing change from what he was used to. Everything on the Islands was fresh and airy, like every part of life was connected to the outdoors and the ocean. All of this time spent out in the sun had probably done him a world of good after so many years spent mostly inside a gloomy castle. Hadn't been too bad for his tan, either, he thought with a smirk.

"Fire!"

Lea turned in time to see Kairi land a perfect shot on the target. Of course it was perfect. It seemed to Lea like most everything she did was. He didn't really blame her for making him look bad, though. She was eager to do well so that she would be ready whenever duty called again, so she put a lot of effort into her training. Effort was not something that he excelled in, though when it came to stuff like magic he had not really needed it. The simple spells they had learned so far had come very easily to him. He knew that he could have hit that target with no problem, but it was so hard to resist giving Riku a hard time.

A smirk crossed his face when he thought again about Riku's reaction to that last stunt he had just pulled. It had been strange to start with, having someone so much younger than him as a teacher. But it quickly became clear that Riku knew what he was doing, and could be trusted to train them well. The Keyblade Master reminded Lea a bit of Isa, with his no-nonsense attitude and dry humor. He wasn't sure that Riku had quite come to appreciate his own sense of humor like Isa had, but when they weren't training, at least, Lea felt like they could grow to be friends.

His relationship with Kairi had started out rocky and awkward, mostly because of his own guilt over having kidnapped her during his time as Axel. She had dismissed his frequent apologies, and didn't seem to be bothered by having to hang out with her former kidnapper, but he still had a hard time forgiving himself. It wasn't like he had had any intentions of hurting her, but at the same time, it was his fault that she had ended up in Saix's hands and locked away in the Organization's castle. But as they worked side by side, Kairi had not only shown him kindness, but seemed to want to be his friend. She was easy to talk to, and they often bonded over training experiences and laughing at each others funny stories. In a way she was beginning to feel like the little sister he had never had.

Then there was Sora. Lea felt like his relationship with Sora was probably the most complicated of them all. Sure, he was a really nice guy, and they often found themselves chatting freely like they had been friends their whole lives. But it was hard to look at Sora and not see Roxas. Lea had hated Sora for a long time without ever having met him, even though he knew that Sora had no say in what happened to Roxas whatsoever. Then they found themselves fighting side by side, though for Lea it was only for Roxas' sake. He had never imagined that they would end up being friends in the end, but Sora's perpetual grin and zest for life were hard for anyone to resist. Lea knew that Roxas was still in there somewhere, and every once in a while he would catch glimpses of him in something that Sora said or a certain face he would make. Those moments were always bittersweet.

"Hey guys!" As if he knew Lea was thinking about him, Sora appeared in the distance, running up the hill toward them with something in his hands. Kairi stopped her Keyblade work and waved happily.

"Hey Sora," Riku greeted him as his friend drew closer. "What's up?"

"I brought ice cream!" Sora announced, out of breath, holding the blue sticks up in the air proudly. "Who wants some?"

"What flavor is that?" Kairi asked.

"It's called Sea Salt," Sora replied. Lea nearly gasped in surprise, but held it back.

"I don't know why, but it just sounded really good to me," Sora continued. "Almost like I was craving it, even though I'm pretty sure I've never had it." Just like that, there was Roxas. Still trying to get his ice cream fix even now. Lea wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry.

"That sounds gross," said Riku, crossing his arms.

Kairi laughed and reached out her hand. "I'll give it a try."

Handing her one of the ice cream bars, Sora turned to Lea. "You want one?" he asked.

Lea swallowed the lump in his throat and gave a nod. "Sure," he answered.

Sora crossed to the bench and gave Lea an ice cream, then took a seat next to him. "This is pretty good," he commented, chewing thoughtfully. "Salty and sweet at the same time."

As the familiar flavor melted in his mouth, Lea let the memories wash over him. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that he was sitting on top of the clock tower with Roxas again. Opening his eyes, he sighed. "Sea Salt is actually my favorite ice cream flavor," he said.

"Really?" Sora sounded surprised.

"Yeah." He debated for a moment whether or not to continue. "Roxas and I used to eat these all the time."

"Oh." Sora went silent, and Lea wondered if he should have kept that part to himself.

After a minute, Sora spoke up again. "You think maybe...that's why I wanted some? Because of Roxas?"

Lea smiled slightly, glad that Sora seemed to understand. "Could be. I think sometimes he's closer than we both realize."

"Yeah," Sora nodded, taking another bite. "Maybe he really is."

"He was a great guy. I think you would have liked him," Lea mused.

"Me, too," Sora agreed. "The couple of times that I met him, he seemed nice. I just wish things could have turned out differently for him."

"So do I," Lea sighed. He quickly added, "But what's done is done." He didn't want to put any unnecessary guilt on Sora. What had happened to Roxas was not his fault, and Lea hoped Sora didn't think that he blamed him.

"Do you think he'd be happy with where you've ended up?" Sora asked. "Being here with us, I mean, and being a Keyblade wielder?"

Lea couldn't help but laugh at that thought. "He'd get a kick out of me having a Keyblade, that's for sure. I doubt he would have ever seen that coming." Pausing, he took another bite of ice cream before continuing. "But yeah, I think he'd be happy with it. Roxas just wanted the good guys to win in the end. For a while we were a bit confused as to who the good guys actually were, but I think I've found them now." Sora grinned at this, and Lea gave him a playful punch on the arm. "He'd be the happiest, though, to know that we had taken down Xemnas...Xehanort...whatever his name is, for good. So would I."

"And we will!" Sora exclaimed, waving his ice cream emphatically. "With you and Kairi on our team, we'll be ready for him for sure!"

As if on cue, Riku whistled to get their attention. "Hey, Lea! Are you done yet? Break time is way past over!"

Lea sighed again and stood, stretching his arms over his head. "Well, guess if I'm gonna be ready I had better do what the boss man says. Thanks for the ice cream, Sora."

"Anytime," said Sora, beaming.


	5. The Island

The sun was low in the sky, making its way slowly down towards the turquoise blue water, when Riku pulled up to the dock on the play island and tied off his boat. Sora and Kairi had arrived just ahead of him, and were already standing in the surf, laughing and splashing like little kids. They seemed oblivious of his presence, so he lingered in the boat for a minute, watching with amusement. These days they didn't come out to the play island very often, but just a couple of years ago they had spent all of their spare time here, sparring, swimming, running races, and building sand castles. Those were definitely some of his happiest memories. So when Sora had suggested that they all come out here after a long day of training, he had agreed without hesitation. Lea had opted to head back to his room and take a nap, instead, so it would just be the three of them, just like old times.

Finally Sora and Kairi noticed their friend, and began shouting and waving him over. Giving a laugh, Riku climbed out onto the dock and walked toward them, enjoying the feeling of the sand moving underneath his shoes.

"Come in the water with us!" Kairi called, kicking at the waves.

Riku shook his head and smiled. "Not right now," he said. He wasn't really in the mood to get wet, and besides, he knew that those two had had very limited time together lately. Ever since they had gotten back to the Islands, school and training had kept them all busy pretty constantly.

Crossing behind his friends, he climbed up to the wooden bridge and made his way to their favorite spot, the crooked palm tree. The wind off of the ocean whipped through his hair as he lifted himself up with his arms and sat on the trunk of the tree. It was ironic how, after all the time he had spent on these Islands wishing to be free and see the other worlds, this was now his favorite place to be. He still didn't necessarily enjoy being at home, and home was part of the reason that he had been so desperate to leave to begin with. But when he was out there, exploring new worlds and fighting Heartless, what he missed more than anything was the sights and smells and sounds of the beach.

Another sound, Sora and Kairi's voices, drifted up to him now over the crashing of the waves. Glancing back over his shoulder at them, Riku smiled again at their antics, but felt a twinge of jealousy at the same time. He shook his head, feeling guilty immediately, and tried to pinpoint the cause. Was it because they were so happy and carefree? Maybe that was part of it, at least. They certainly seemed to have less weighing on their minds than he did most days.

There was something else, too, though. As much as he hated to admit it, he was jealous of them being together. He was jealous of Sora, for having Kairi. Not that he wanted her for himself, at least not anymore, though he had had a bit of a crush on her at one point in time. They were all three best friends, and he loved them both equally as such. There was no doubt that he was very happy for them that they had each other, but there was also a part of him that wished that he had someone, too. Sure, he had his whole life ahead of him to find that special girl, but it was hard to see them so happy together and not want that for himself.

Riku had gotten so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice to start with that the laughter down below had stopped. He was brought back to the present by the faint sound of footsteps crossing the bridge behind him, then crunching into the sand.

"Hey Sora," he said without turning around.

Sora appeared in Riku's line of vision and leaned against the tree trunk. "How do you always do that?" he asked, incredulous.

"Do what?"

"How do you know who's behind you without looking?" Sora explained. "I've seen you do it in battle before, too, like you can sense a Heartless is there without actually seeing it."

Riku shrugged nonchalantly. "I wore a blindfold for a year, remember? That has the tendency to heighten all of your other senses. When you're fighting blind, you have to rely on sounds and smells to know what your opponent is doing."

"Oh yeah," Sora said thoughtfully. "That makes sense. You know, you never really told me what that was all about. I know King Mickey said something about your eyes not being able to lie, but I still don't really get it."

The memories from that year began flashing through Riku's mind unbidden, and he sighed heavily. "I was trying to hide the darkness that was inside of me from others...to hide the fact that I was giving in and using it. Then it became a way to help me keep the darkness at bay when I needed to." Also, at least partly, he had just been too ashamed of what he was doing to even look at himself. But that part he didn't say out loud.

"Gotcha," Sora replied. "Hey, maybe you should use blindfolds as a training exercise for Lea and Kairi. Teach them to rely on their other senses, too."

Riku laughed, shaking away his gloomy thoughts. "Maybe so. Where did Kairi go, anyway?"

"She fell in the water and got soaked," Sora snickered. "So she decided just to head home so she could change clothes."

"It is getting pretty late," Riku commented, nodding toward the horizon where the sun was dipping ever lower in the sky. "We should head back soon, too, if we don't want to cross in the dark."

Despite having given the suggestion, he didn't actually make a move to leave, and neither did Sora. The peaceful calm of the ocean was urging him to stay, and he felt in no hurry to fight it. They remained in silence for the next couple of minutes, just staring out at the water. Riku's thoughts returned after a moment to Sora and Kairi's relationship.

"You should ask her out, you know," he finally commented, breaking the silence.

"Huh?" Sora looked up at him, surprised.

"You two...you both like each other, and you hang out together with other friends around all the time, but you've never actually been on a date," Riku said pointedly. "You should ask her out."

"Wait...you think she likes me?" Sora exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"Of course she likes you," Riku replied with a laugh. "You don't notice the way she looks at you, and goes out of her way to be next to you, and lights up whenever you come around? She doesn't act that way for everyone else."

Sora's ears had turned a bright shade of pink. "I...I guess I never really thought about it. I mean she likes to be with you, too, right?"

Riku exhaled as if dismissing the thought, though he felt that slight twinge of jealousy trying to raise its head again. "Yeah, sure, she likes to be with me. I'm her friend, too. But it's not the same." He shook his head and pointed his finger straight at Sora. "Those things that I mentioned before? Those are all for you and only you."

"Whoa..." Sora was quiet for a minute, as if processing this information. Then a thought seemed to strike him. "So how did you know that I liked her? We've never really talked about it before."

"Please." Riku rolled his eyes. "First of all, you've been wanting to share a paopu fruit with her for years. You're always gazing at her with lovesick puppy dog eyes when you think nobody's watching. Or trying to carry her books, or help her with her training." He smirked and added, "Or, I don't know, playing with strands of her hair?"

Sora gasped and then groaned. "What? So you did see that!"

"Blindfold, remember? I don't miss much." Riku couldn't help but laugh at his friend's expense.

"I was just...I got lost in thought and...and her hair was wet, so it caught my attention..." Sora stammered, trying to explain himself. "I didn't even realize I was doing it!" He slumped over in defeat. "Sometimes I just go out of my head when I'm around her. I can't help it."

"Exactly. Which is how I knew that you like her," Riku said.

"Yeah," Sora sighed. "I really do."

"So ask her out!" Riku exclaimed, bringing the conversation full circle.

"But what would we do?" Sora asked, leaning against the tree trunk once more.

"She won't care," Riku answered. "Just do whatever you would usually do together, but make it official, and do it without me and Lea around."

Sora scratched the side of his head with his finger. "Maybe you're right. I don't really know how to do it, but..." Propping his chin on his hand, he seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Yeah," he said finally. "I'm gonna do it! Thanks, Riku."

"No problem," Riku replied. "Somebody's got to tell you these things. You're too much of a dork to think of them yourself."

"Hey!" Sora protested, punching his friend in the leg.

Riku laughed, then jumped down off of the tree. "Come on, let's head home. Gotta get an early start again tomorrow." He paused, gazing out at the water for another moment. "You know, maybe I will get some blindfolds," he added, smirking mischievously. "For all three of you."

"For me?" Sora exclaimed as Riku began to walk away. "That's not what I said! Why do I need one?"

"Race you to the dock!" Riku threw back over his shoulder, ignoring Sora's complaints.

"You got a head start! No fair!" Sora called as they both broke into a run, laughing.


	6. First Date

He was going to do it. He was going to ask Kairi out on a date. He had been putting it off for almost a week, and Riku had been berating him for it the whole time. Sometimes verbally, if they were alone together, and other times by making faces at him behind Kairi's back. But today was the day, and he was finally going to do it. He still just really didn't know how.

It was Saturday, and Sora had told his friends that he would meet them for lunch when they took a break from training. His original plan had been just to come out and ask her whenever the timing was right during lunch, but now, as he was nearing the training arena, he had begun second guessing himself about his method. Should he be making a bigger deal about this? Maybe he should have gotten flowers or something. Do you give a girl flowers when you ask her out on a date, or is that just on the actual date? Okay, so maybe not flowers. But was asking her during lunch with friends way too casual? Should he have come up with some romantic setting?

Well, it was too late now. It was lunchtime, and here he was standing at the foot of the hill, looking up at the arena. Sora gulped nervously, ran his shaky fingers through his spiky brown hair, then started the trek up the hill.

"Hey, Sora!" Kairi called happily as he came into view. She gave a cute little hop and wave that made Sora smile and his heart skip a beat.

"H-hi!" he croaked out. Ever since Riku had pointed it out to him, Sora had finally started noticing how Kairi did, in fact, pay extra attention to him, and it made him even more nervous around her than before. Skirting around the edge of the arena to avoid any further contact for now, he retreated to the bench under the palm trees and sat down, arms propped on his knees.

"Alright, guys, let's break for lunch," he heard Riku say. The two trainees and their teacher joined Sora under the palms, unwrapping their lunches, with Lea and Kairi chatting brightly about school and Keyblades. Occasionally Sora nodded or threw in a word or two, but most of the time he was only half listening. His heart was pounding too loudly in his ears for him to hear the rest. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Riku staring him down, but he refused to return the gaze.

This was it, this was his moment. But this was stupid. What had he been thinking? He couldn't just ask her right here, in front of their friends. It was way too awkward. They needed to be alone before he could ask. But they were so rarely alone, just the two of them. How was he going to make that work?

Riku cleared his throat loudly, finally gaining Sora's attention. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I could really go for some ice cream right about now."

Sora cast him a puzzled glance. Ice cream? Sure, they all liked ice cream, but that announcement seemed very out of character for Riku. He craved sweets the least of any of them.

"I can always go for ice cream!" Lea agreed wholeheartedly.

"Sounds good to me!" Kairi nodded.

"Hey Sora," Riku said, returning his gaze to him with a pointed look, "Why don't you and Kairi run down and grab us all some ice cream?"

Kairi jumped to her feet, obviously perfectly happy with the idea. "Yeah, sure!" she exclaimed.

Sora was still confused. Why was Riku acting so weird? What was the deal with sending them for ice cream? He was going to be alone with Kairi. Being alone with her was the last thing his nerves wanted right now. Then it finally dawned on him. They would be alone together. That was what he was just thinking that they needed. Riku was trying to give him the opportunity to actually ask her out.

"Right," he said slowly, standing up. "Ice cream. Got it." This last remark he directed straight at Riku, who only shook his head in exasperation.

"Sea salt for me!" Lea proclaimed.

"Anything but sea salt for me," Riku countered. "Get cookies and cream, if they have it."

"Okay!" Kairi agreed. "Come on, Sora!"

They scrambled down the hill without saying much, and from there it was a quick walk to the ice cream stand. There was a little bit of a line, so they took their place at the end and waited. Sora tried again to psych himself up, bouncing up and down on his toes. If he was going to ask, he needed to do it now. No sense in trying to do it after they had ice cream in their hands, melting everywhere in the midday heat.

Sucking in a deep breath, he finally blurted it out. "Hey, do you wanna...um...like, go out sometime? With me?"

Surprise showed on Kairi's face, but it was quickly replaced by a bright smile. "I'd love to," she replied with a hint of shyness.

"Really?" Relief washed over him, and he felt like he could finally breathe again. "I mean, cool! Great!"

"What did you want to do?" Kairi asked.

Sora's heart rate picked up again. He hadn't actually decided that part yet. "Oh, uh...I...well...we could...have dinner?" That's what people did on first dates, right? Only one problem, they were a bit too young to go out to a nice dinner by themselves. "I mean...I guess if we did that it would have to be at my house..." He wanted to smack himself in the forehead. What girl would want to hang out with the guy's parents on the first date?

"Sure," Kairi answered, surprising him. "I like having dinner at your house. Then maybe after we could take a walk or something, just the two of us," she suggested.

"Yeah," Sora breathed, happy that she was being so cool about all of this. "That sounds great."

Kairi nodded with a warm smile. "So...tomorrow night?"

"Huh?" He had kind of forgotten about setting a time, too. "Oh, yeah. Um, tomorrow night would work. Dinner at seven? You can come over before that if you want to, though."

"Okay!" Kairi clasped her hands behind and her back and swayed back and forth slightly. She looked happy and excited, and Sora felt his heart skip a beat. This was really happening! He was going to have a date with Kairi, tomorrow night. He had a feeling time was going to crawl by extra slowly until then.

* * *

The evening air was warm and a bit muggy as Sora and Kairi strolled quietly down the sandy path towards the beach. They had just finished having dinner at Sora's house, and were alone for the first time since their date had begun. Being together without saying anything wasn't new to them, but this time it seemed like the silence was heavy and awkward, at least to Sora. Something about actually being on an official date made him feel like he had to be on his very best behavior. As long as they had been with his parents, he could rely on them to keep up the conversation to some extent. But now the burden fell on his shoulders, and for some reason right now he couldn't think of a thing to say.

"There sure are a lot of stars out tonight," Kairi finally broke into his anxious thoughts. "The sky is so pretty."

Looking up, Sora smiled. "Yeah, it really is." He glanced over at Kairi, watching her smile up at the stars. She was much prettier than the sky. He should say something about her, but just saying she was pretty didn't seem like enough...she's a star? Her eyes are stars? Her eyes twinkle like stars?

"It's crazy to think that each of those is actually another world," Kairi continued before he could form his compliment.

"Mm-hmm," said Sora, turning his attention back to the sky. "I wonder which of those are the ones we've been to."

"I bet that one right there is Radiant Garden," Kairi giggled, pointing. "And that one over there is Wonderland."

Sora laughed and began pointing, too. "There's Deep Space, and Agrabah, and over there is Atlantica!"

Kairi sighed. "Someday we'll go to all of those worlds. Together, right?"

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "I'd like that." He looked back over at her, wanting to reach for her hand, but unsure of himself. His heartbeat sped up a little. Taking a deep breath, he finally made his move, slipping his hand quietly around hers. She gave his hand a little squeeze in return, and he broke into a grin in the darkness.

A short time later, they reached the beach, and took a seat side by side in the sand. The waves lapped quietly up to their feet as they gazed out at the distant horizon. There was still not much to say, but the silence didn't seem so bad now. Sora was content just to enjoy the peace and Kairi's company.

"This has been nice," said Kairi after several minutes had passed. "I'm glad we did this."

"Me, too." Sora suddenly remembered the item that was in his pocket, and his pulse quickened again. "Um...Kairi?"

"Hmm?"

He felt for the object, started to pull it out, then shoved it back in. "Nothing," he mumbled. "Never mind."

Kairi was watching him, and she giggled. "It's a paopu fruit, isn't it?"

"How'd you know?" Sora asked, surprised and embarrassed.

"I saw you picking it earlier," she replied with a grin. "Plus, I know that you've been talking about them for forever."

"You do?" Sora stammered. "I mean, am I...? Are you...? Is it...?" He sighed, too nervous to make a coherent sentence. It was true, he had wanted to share a paopu fruit with Kairi for quite some time now, but had never worked up the nerve to ask. He had picked this one on a whim that afternoon, but had begun second guessing himself as to whether their first official date was too soon for such a thing.

"I would love to," said Kairi, answering his unspoken question. Reaching over, she gently placed her hand on his arm. "No matter what happens, I want the two of us to always be a part of each others lives."

"Me, too," Sora agreed. They locked eyes, and he found himself lost for a moment in her face. Even though he couldn't see the sky-blue of her irises in the dark, they were still beautiful. Wisps of hair danced across her cheeks and forehead as the wind blew in off of the ocean.

Suddenly she leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips. It was brief, but soft and warm, and it sent an electric shock all the way down to his toes. For a few seconds he felt frozen into place with surprise, his eyes wide and his lips still tingling from her touch. Their first kiss. He had never expected it to happen tonight, nor for Kairi to initiate it, but none of that really mattered. A wide smile spread across his face.

Kairi smiled back at him, tucking her hair behind her ear as if suddenly shy. "Well, should we eat it?" She nodded towards his pocket.

"Oh. Yeah!" Pulling his gaze away, Sora reached in once more and pulled out the star-shaped fruit, then carefully split it in half. He handed one piece to Kairi, and held the other up in front of his mouth.

"Okay, here goes!" They both bit into the fruit at the same time. It was sweet and juicy, with a slightly tart aftertaste as he swallowed.

"Mmm, it's good," Kairi commented.

"Tastes a little like pineapple," Sora thought aloud, wiping a drop of juice off of his chin with his fingers. "And it's kinda messy!" he laughed. Kairi laughed, too, and they both finished the last few bites of their fruit.

"Our destinies will be forever intertwined," Kairi sighed when they were done. Snuggling in closer to Sora, she laid her head on his shoulder as they looked out over the water. "I wonder what that will mean?"

"I don't know," said Sora honestly. "But as long as you and I can be together, I'll be happy."


	7. Kairi's Boys

Kairi felt as if her feet had hardly touched the ground all day. She had floated all the way through school, with what she was sure was a ridiculous smile on her face. Every time she saw Sora, she had to fight the urge to just stare at him adoringly, or kiss him again. That kiss the night before still lingered in her memory, and she kept finding herself lightly rubbing her lips, imagining the feeling of Sora's lips on hers once more. What had come over her in that moment to make her decide to kiss him, she might never know, but she was so glad that she had.

Now school was over, and she was floating her way to the training arena, humming quietly, relishing the sunshine and every flower along the path as if seeing them all for the first time. She practically ran up the hillside to the arena, but suddenly froze when she saw Riku. It wasn't the first time she had seen him today, of course, but she had been so distracted by Sora during lunch that she hadn't paid him much mind. In all the excitement of Sora asking her out and their first date, she had all but forgotten about her earlier concerns about Riku. Did he know that they had been out? She wouldn't be surprised, Sora told him pretty much everything. Glancing around, she noticed that Lea hadn't arrived yet. Now was her chance to talk to him about their relationship. She had to know how he felt, though dragging that kind of information out of him was never easy.

"Hey, Riku," she greeted him casually as she walked up beside him. He was down on the ground, counting out push-ups. After he had completed three more, he stood and dusted his hands off.

"Hey," he replied. He looked behind her as if expecting to see someone. "Where's Sora? I figured he'd walk you here."

"He...had to get home," Kairi responded, a bit confused. Sora had never walked her to training before. "He promised his mom he'd help her with something."

Grunting in understanding, Riku picked up his water bottle off the bench and took a swig. Kairi watched, trying to gauge his thoughts. "So..." she said, not really sure how to breach the subject. "Has Sora mentioned to you...?"

"That the two of you went on a date last night?" Riku finished for her, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He gave a laugh. "Relax, I already know all about it. I'm the one who kept pushing him to ask you, since he was too nervous to do it on his own."

Kairi was relieved yet surprised at the same time. "You...really? I mean, I thought he might have said something to you. He usually does. But I didn't know that you were encouraging him."

Riku studied her for a moment with that slightly unnerving gaze of his, the one that made you think he was reading your every thought. "You thought I'd be upset about it, didn't you? That I wouldn't like you two being together?"

Kairi felt her face flush, and she ducked her head. "I don't know. Maybe." Looking back up at him, she rushed to explain. "I just didn't want things to be awkward for you. For you to feel left out or anything."

"Well, I appreciate it," he replied with a smile. "But don't worry. I've known that you two would end up together for a long time. It's about time that it finally became official."

Laughing sheepishly, Kairi kicked at the sand with the toe of her shoe. "Guess it took us a little longer to figure that out ourselves."

Riku took a seat on the bench and leaned forward onto his knees. "Oh and by the way, even if I didn't know ahead of time that you were going out, I think I would have figured out something was up from the way you two were acting today." He shook his head in mock disgust. "I take it things went well."

Kairi's face burned again and her hands flew to her cheeks. "Was it that obvious?"

"Both of you might as well have been on another world," Riku answered. "I wouldn't be surprised if half the school noticed." He gestured past her, and Kairi turned to see Lea walking toward them. "There's the one that may give you a hard time about the whole thing, though."

Biting her lower lip, Kairi looked back at Riku quickly. "Let's not tell him quite yet," she whispered.

"Hey there," Lea panted as he approached. "Man, I hate that hill."

"You're late," Riku called out, standing. "Let's get started. Today we're going to be learning a new magic spell." Clasping her hands together, Kairi rocked onto her toes in excitement. She loved learning magic.

"This is one of the most important spells you will learn," Riku continued. "It's called Cure. This spell does the same job as a potion, but is easier to use because you can't run out of it as long as you have magic."

"Bet it doesn't taste as bad as a potion, either," Lea commented.

Ignoring him, Riku pulled out his pocketknife. "Now, learning this spell will be a little different, because you have to actually have an injury in order to know whether it's working. But don't worry, we won't be doing anything drastic. The tiniest of scratches will do." Flipping open the blade, he gave himself a small nick on his left arm, then put away the knife and summoned Way to the Dawn. Lifting his Keyblade over his head, he held out his left arm so that they could see the cut better. "This is what the spell looks like. Heal!" With that word, a yellow flower materialized over the glowing Keyblade, opening its petals as a green light swirled around Riku's body.

"Ooh," Kairi exclaimed in delight as the magic faded away. She had seen the spell before from a distance during a battle, but never up close. Stepping in, she studied Riku's arm. The cut had vanished.

For the next several minutes, Riku showed them the specifics of how to hold their Keyblades and how to say the spell. When he was confident that they were ready, he gave them each their own nick on the arm and stepped back to watch.

Lea was the first to give it a try. "Heal!" he commanded, raising his Keyblade in the air. Immediately the yellow flower and the swirl of green light appeared, leaving Lea staring at his cured arm with a proud grin on his face.

"Wow," said Riku, not bothering to hide the shock in his voice. "That was...great. You got it on the first try."

"See, I can be good at magic," Lea replied with more than a hint of smugness in his voice. "Got it memorized?" he asked, tapping the side of his head.

"Yeah." Riku rolled his eyes and flicked his knife back open, catching Lea's arm with the blade before he could protest. "Now you can try it again to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. But first, it's Kairi's turn."

Returning Riku's nod, Kairi drew in a deep breath and wiggled her fingers on the handle of her Keyblade. Then she lifted it, doing her best to emulate Riku's body position, and making sure her voice was loud and calm. "Heal!"

Nothing happened. No flower, no lights. Kairi glanced down at the cut on her arm, though she knew it would still be there. She sighed in frustration.

"That's okay," Riku encouraged. "Just try again."

Kairi nodded with resolve. It wasn't like it was the only time she had failed on the first try, but Lea's success made it a little more embarrassing. Raising the Keyblade again, she spoke the spell a little louder. "Heal!" Still nothing. Kairi chewed on her lip, trying not to feel frustrated with herself. Magic had come easily to her up until now, so she wasn't used to spells not working.

"Ha! Did it again!" Lea announced, holding out his healed arm in triumph. He quickly pulled it back, though, eyeing Riku suspiciously. "Are you going to cut me again?"

"No," Riku shook his head. "Seems like you've got this one for now. Why don't you go work on your Fire and Blizzard spells instead?" he suggested, gesturing towards the targets.

"Fine," Lea sighed, moping away.

Riku turned his attention back to Kairi. "I think it could be your timing. Try waiting just a second longer to raise your Keyblade."

Kairi tried the spell again and again, with Riku giving her pointers and helping her adjust her grip, timing, body position, and all of the other tiny little things that could contribute to a magic spell not working correctly. Finally, after what seemed like at least a dozen tries, it worked. Kairi felt a jolt of energy as the green lights encircled her, and she grinned down at her arm.

"I did it!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down in excitement. "I did it!"

"Great!" Riku smiled. He reached into his pocket again. "But you know what comes next."

Kairi made a face at him, but obliged and held out her arm, trying not to wince as he scratched the skin as gently as possible. "Okay," she breathed. "I can do this."

"Just keep everything exactly the same as before," Riku instructed, stepping back to watch.

Nothing happened. Kairi let out a frustrated groan. "Why can't I get it right? I felt like I did the same thing that time!"

Riku reached forward and gripped her shoulder. "Some spells are just trickier than others. We all have our problem spells, the ones that take us a little longer to learn. Mine was Esuna."

"What's Esuna?" Kairi asked.

"It's a bit difficult to explain," Riku answered, waving his hand. "It will be a while before you get to that one."

"So it's an advanced spell," Kairi groaned, dropping her head forward. "You had trouble with one of the advanced spells, not with a basic one like Cure."

Riku sighed. "Yeah, but the point is, I had been doing fine with all of the other spells, basic and advanced, up until then, and I suddenly got stuck on that one spell. No matter what the level of difficulty is, that just happens sometimes. You'll get past it."

Kairi nodded, still feeling a bit defeated, but grateful for his words of support. "Okay. Thanks, Riku."

"Why don't you take a break for a few minutes?" Riku suggested. "Go blow off some steam by shooting some fire with Lea, and come back to this later."

"That sounds good," Kairi laughed. She jogged over towards the targets, but slowed as she got close to Lea, bracing herself for the teasing that was sure to come.

"Hey there, Princess," Lea greeted her. Kairi didn't really know why he insisted on calling her that, but she had given up trying to convince him not to.

"Go on and say it," Kairi said. "I know you want to."

"What, that I'm finally better than you at something?" Lea shrugged. "It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Well, you're welcome," Kairi responded, deciding to take the offense on the teasing. "I thought you deserved the chance."

Lea smirked. "Oh, so you did that on purpose, huh? To make me look good?"

"Yep," Kairi said. "I guess I just like you that much."

"Good to know!" Lea laughed. "Ready to catch some stuff on fire?"

"How about you catch stuff on fire, and I'll use Blizzard to put it out?" Kairi suggested.

Lea nodded. "Okay. Probably safer that way."

"No, safer would be me doing both," Kairi laughed.

"Alright, touché," said Lea. "But if either of us ends up getting hurt, best leave the healing to me."

Kairi pointed her Keyblade at him with a playful glare. "Watch it, or you really will need healing." Lea might be annoying sometimes, but he almost always knew how to make her laugh. Just like Riku was great at encouragement, and Sora would do anything to put a smile on her face. She was lucky to have these three boys.


	8. Realm of Darkness

Opening the bottom drawer of his dresser, Lea hesitated a moment before reaching in and pulling out the familiar black coat. His friends probably all thought that he had gotten rid of it by now, and part of him had wanted to. It held too many memories, and most of them were painful ones. But something had given him the feeling that he was going to need it again, so he had held onto it just in case.

Now that time had come, so he reluctantly slipped it on and zipped it up the front. Glancing in the mirror, he shook his head. Other than the missing teardrop tattoos, it could have been Axel looking back at him.

Holding his hand up in front of him, Lea paused again and sighed. He knew that what he was about to do was dangerous, and he knew that none of his new friends would approve. The whole reason that he had asked for a Keyblade to begin with was so that he could avoid using the dark corridors, and so far he had done just that. But a Keyblade couldn't get him where he was going today. Lea almost felt the need to look over his shoulder and make sure no one was watching, even though he knew he was alone in his apartment. Finally he drew in a deep breath, opened the corridor, and walked through.

He came out the other side right where had intended, on the doorstep of the Castle That Never Was. Turning, he looked out over the city that he had called home for so long. Nothing had changed. The neon lights of the buildings still glared into the blackness of the streets, though no living soul was there to see them. Lea had a feeling that this venture was going to turn up empty, just like all the others, but he was running out of places he knew to look.

Without anyone knowing, he had been spending his spare time while the others were in school searching for the remnants of Organization XIII. He really wasn't sure what he would do if he ever actually found them. It's not like he could take them on by himself, and he knew that everyone else was planning on getting to them eventually. But first there was training, and then they wanted to find Aqua and Ventus, whoever those people were, and Lea was getting impatient. Isa was out there, and he just had to find him, to know that he was okay. Or at least as okay as he could be, considering what Xemnas had done to him.

Lea clenched his fists angrily at the thought, and spun around to face the door again with renewed resolve. Pushing open the heavy double doors, he took a few steps inside and glanced around the empty room. It was almost too quiet. Not that he had expected to be greeted by Organization members in the front hall, but something about this silence set him on edge. Taking one more step forward, he suddenly heard a familiar noise and groaned inwardly. Heartless were appearing all around him, popping up out of the darkness and bouncing in place as if waiting for some cue to attack.

Taking a battle stance, Lea hesitated for a moment, his fingers twitching. Keyblade, or chakrams? Summoning the Keyblade had become almost second nature to him as of late, but he knew he still had very little experience fighting with it. As much as he'd love to try it out in a real battle, now – when he was by himself in the middle of the Realm of Darkness – was probably not the best time. With that thought, he summoned his chakrams in a spinning blaze of fire.

The Heartless that surrounded him were small, mostly Shadows and Mega-Shadows, though Lea knew that once these were gone the bigger ones wouldn't be far behind. Leaping forward, he swiped with first his right hand, then his left, taking them out easily with only one or two strokes each. They disappeared in puffs of black smoke, and soon the room was clear, if only for an instant.

Lea heard the sound of more Heartless materializing and spun around to face them. This time it was Neoshadows, the bigger, stronger, and more annoying cousin of the Shadows. Two of them jumped into the air, launching themselves directly toward him. Throwing his arms out to the side, Lea let loose a stream of fire from each chakram, knocking the Neoshadows to the ground. He swung his weapons at them quickly before they could recover, then turned his attention to the remaining three. These promptly sunk into portals in the ground and vanished. Lea tensed, waiting for them to pop up again. In a moment, the dark spots reappeared on the floor next to his feet, and a Neoshadow jumped out behind him, scratching its sharp claws across his back.

"Aargh!" Lea gritted his teeth and leaped away from the portals, throwing a flaming chakram at the Neoshadow that had attacked him. Just before the weapon made impact, the monster dropped back into its portal, causing the chakram to stick in the wall on the far side of the room.

"Great," he muttered. Unless he could make it across the room, he was down to one chakram. He switched the remaining weapon to his right hand as the portals reappeared at his feet, then spun wildly in a circle, hoping to make contact with whichever Neoshadow popped out. It worked, and the monster was thrown sideways, making it easy for Lea to finish him off with a couple of more swings of the chakram.

Now only one Heartless remained, and Lea knew what that meant. This last one would start trying to summon more just like it, and he had to defeat them before they could make it out of their portals. Already two of the dark spots had appeared, and he could see the claws emerging from them. Diving toward the closest one, he pounded his chakram down into the portal until the Neoshadow inside vanished, then turned and repeated the process at each new one that was showing up. When the portals were finally all gone, Lea seized his opportunity and threw his chakram at the Neoshadow in the center of the room. It bounced off of its mark, wounding the monster, and returned to Lea's hand.

"Hyaaa!" he shouted, jumping forward with a final swing. The Heartless disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the room went quiet.

Lea stayed in that spot for a moment, trying to catch his breath. It had been so long since he had fought a real battle, he had almost forgotten what an adrenaline rush it was. Crossing the room, he grabbed his second chakram and pulled it out of the wall, then dismissed them both. The scratch on his back was still stinging a little, though it was more of an annoyance than anything. Suddenly he remembered the spell that he had just recently learned, and he summoned his Keyblade with a smirk.

"Heal!" He raised the Keyblade above his head and felt not only the scratch stop hurting, but his heart rate slow and his breathing return to normal, as well. Yep, that was a good spell to know.

Dismissing the Keyblade, Lea began to climb the stairs to the next level of the castle. He was greeted at the top by yet another room full of Shadows. Clenching his jaw, he ran past them, dodging their striking claws, until he had reached a door on the other end. If this room was full, too, it would confirm his growing suspicions and he wouldn't need to stay and fight any longer. He eased the door open, and sure enough, there were even more Heartless waiting beyond it. The whole castle was overrun with them, which meant there was no chance that the Organization was here. They would have cleared out the Heartless long ago.

Lea ran back through the room of Shadows the way he had come, taking out his anger by slashing at a few with his Keyblade along the way. He didn't stop running until he was back outside of the castle, staring down at the city again. Part of him wanted to scream, to let his frustration echo out over the empty streets, but he knew such a noise could draw even more Heartless. So instead he just heaved a sigh and slumped onto the ground.

"Where are you, Isa?" he whispered into the darkness. "Where has he taken you?" He had already searched several places that the old Organization had frequented, including Twilight Town and Castle Oblivion. Of course when it came to the latter, he could never be sure that he had actually seen everything there. But he had not seen any signs of life in any of the rooms he searched. This trip into the Realm of Darkness had been a last resort, since he knew that it was risky for him and also that it was unlikely they would have returned to where they could be easily found. With this castle turning up empty as well – at least of anyone other than Heartless – he had completely run out of ideas.

What would Roxas tell him if he were here? The question popped into his mind unexpectedly, though it wasn't the first time he had thought something similar. In this place, where they had spent so many hours together, it was hard not to think about that cheeky kid. Lea smiled a little in spite of himself. Roxas would probably tell him to get up and quit whining. Well, that's what he would do. He certainly was not going to give up on finding Isa, no matter how much time he had to spend and how many worlds and realms he had to visit. He would find him, and he would get his friend back from the darkness.


	9. Training Mission

**Author's Note: If you're reading this fic after having already read The Chosen Four, don't make the mistake of skipping over the chapters that seem the same! They've been edited, and some, like this chapter, have new sections added to them. Enjoy!**

* * *

With a final swing of Way to the Dawn, Riku finished off the Heartless he had been battling, then turned to take stock of the rest of the fight. The others seemed to be holding their own for now, and there were no more Heartless in his immediate vicinity. This seemed like the perfect time to patch up the few scrapes and bruises he had received so far.

Adjusting his grip on the Keyblade, he hoisted it above his head to cast a Cure spell. Out of nowhere, a fire spell struck him in the side, blistering his skin with searing pain. Riku clenched his jaw to keep from crying out as he doubled over.

"Stupid Red Nocturnes," he muttered under his breath, glancing up at the red and black Heartless that danced in the air several yards away. To his great satisfaction, at that very moment the Nocturne was hit with a blizzard spell from Sora's Keyblade and vanished.

Riku straightened, trying to ignore the pain in his side and find the strength to try the Cure spell again. He had to get back into the battle; his friends were counting on him. But before he could raise his Keyblade, he sensed movement to his left. He spun around just in time to see a Large Body Heartless charging toward him, its huge arms swinging wildly. Instinctively Riku threw his Keyblade up in front of himself to block, but the impact still sent him flying and tumbling backwards towards the edge of the cliff on which they were standing. Way to the Dawn clattered noisily to the ground and vanished. Riku grasped desperately at the stony surface, trying in vain to keep himself from slipping over the side. He watched the Heartless and his friends disappear from sight as he felt himself falling...falling...

At the last possible moment, the fingers of his left hand caught a rock on the cliff's edge and halted his fall. He heard the pop at the same time that sharp pain shot up through his arm. Groaning, Riku shut his eyes and inwardly shook his fist at Roxas. It wasn't very fair, he guessed, to blame a guy who no longer really even existed. But his left wrist had never been the same since their fight at Memory Skyscraper, when Roxas had regained both of his Keyblades and struck Riku with one of them. It was a constant reminder of the one battle that he would have most liked to forget. For a while he had worn a wrist guard for support, but lately it had been feeling a bit stronger so he had given that up. Now there was no doubt that he had re-injured it.

All of these thoughts flashed through Riku's mind in a matter of seconds as he dangled precariously from the cliff's edge. He ventured a look over his shoulder at the ground far below him and immediately crossed that off as a possibility. There were many falls that he knew he could handle, but this was not one of them. He felt positive that none of the others had seen him go over, so help would not be arriving anytime soon. The only option left was to pull himself up, and it was going to take more strength than he thought he might have left.

Gritting his teeth, he swung his right arm up, his wrist and side punishing his every move. His fingers clawed and fumbled but came away with nothing to grab onto. He looked up, squinting against the bright sky, and studied the face of the cliff. There was something there, either a rock or a root, just above where his left hand was holding on. If he could just reach a little higher, then maybe it could be a sufficient hand hold.

Riku took a deep breath, mustering what energy he could. He knew that he was going to have to go for this in such a way that could very possibly make him lose the grip that he did have. But he didn't see another choice, so he began counting to himself.

"One, two...three!" Using his legs for extra momentum, he gave a mighty swing with his arm, but knew almost immediately that he had failed. Once again his right hand slid down the rocks empty, and this time his left hand slipped off as well. He half expected his life to flash before his eyes as he began to fall again, but instead he just felt an overall sense of regret.

He had no time to dwell on it, though, because his fall was cut short by a firm hand clutching onto his right arm. Jerking his head up in surprise, he found himself looking into the face of his best friend.

"Riku! Hold on!" Sora called, reaching down his other hand to hoist his friend up.

"Be careful, Sora," Riku replied. The last thing he wanted was for both of them to fall. At that moment, though, Lea's face appeared next to Sora's, and relief flooded through him. The two guys took a firm hold of Riku's arms and began to pull, with Riku walking up the cliff face as much as he could. They pulled him to his feet at the top of the cliff, but he quickly collapsed to the ground, shaky with exhaustion.

"Here," said Kairi, kneeling beside him and holding out a green vial. "This should help."

Riku took the potion with a nod of appreciation, popped the cork out, and downed the bitter liquid. The pain in his side immediately subsided, and he raised his hand to watch a cut from the rocks rapidly close itself and vanish completely. His other minor wounds healed, too, and he could feel his energy returning. Only his wrist continued to throb, though not quite as badly as before the potion. It was such an old injury that he wouldn't have expected it to heal that easily. Probably not even another potion or cure spell would help at this point, or so he told himself. The truth was, he had never mentioned the wrist injury to his friends before, and he wasn't about to do so now.

As the potion continued to do its work, Riku glanced around what had been a battlefield only a few minutes before, seeing now no signs of the Heartless. His friends had done well, despite the fact that two of them were barely trained, and this battle had taken them all completely by surprise. Lea and Kairi had been doing exceptionally well over the last few weeks, and had been begging him to take them to another world on a training mission. Finally he had obliged, and Sora had picked what they thought would be a simple, safe world to explore. Clearly, however, something was going on in this world that none of them had realized, and the training mission had quickly become much more intense than anyone had anticipated.

Training mission, hmph. Some teacher he had been today. Riku finally forced himself to look at the faces of the three friends who sat around him, watching and waiting, and cringed inwardly at the concern he saw there. As much as he appreciated them, he couldn't stand to be pitied.

"And that," he spoke up finally, using his instructor voice. "That is why you always have to be mindful of your surroundings. Especially when there are cliffs and Large Bodies around."

The joke had its intended effect. Lea smirked, Kairi giggled behind her hand, and Sora laughed out loud.

"I've got it memorized," said Lea, tapping his temple.

"We're just glad you're okay, Riku," Kairi smiled. Sora offered his hand, and Riku allowed him to help him back to his feet.

"Don't worry about it," Sora assured him with a grin and a playful punch on the arm. "Those things happen to all of us from time to time."

Riku nodded, grateful for his friends' support, but also ready to no longer be the topic of conversation. "How about we head further down this trail and see if we can figure out what's going on with this world?"

The other three agreed, and they started down the path together. It led away from the waterfall base where they had started, through a narrow ravine between two cliffs, then beside another drop-off down to the ocean. Here they encountered a few more Heartless, though not nearly as many as in their first fight. This time everyone made sure to keep far away from the cliff edge. Riku kept an eye on Lea and Kairi, pleased with the way they were handling themselves today.

Once they had finished off the last of the Heartless in that area, they passed through another short ravine and found themselves next to a lagoon.

"What was that?" exclaimed Kairi, pointing towards the water. "I thought I saw something jump off of that rock over there, into the water."

"Maybe a mermaid," Sora answered casually. "They call this Mermaid Lagoon."

Kairi gasped. "A mermaid? Really?"

"Yep," said Sora. "I've never actually seen one here, though. I think they must be pretty shy." He ran ahead a few steps and turned back to the group, gesturing towards another path that led away from the lagoon. "Come on, Peter's hideout is this way! We should see if he's home and ask him about the Heartless."

"Peter?" Riku queried.

"Yeah, you remember, the guy I told you about that I met here before?" Sora explained.

Gasping again, Kairi clapped her hands together. "He's the one who flies, right?"

"Right!" Sora replied.

Riku was still a bit skeptical about that whole story, though stranger things had proven true. "Lead the way," he agreed.

They followed Sora to an odd-looking crown-less tree in the middle of a clearing in the jungle. "Here it is," he announced proudly. "There's an entrance right around...here!" Opening up a hidden door in the wood, Sora ducked inside.

It took Riku's eyes a moment to adjust to the dim interior of the tree. When they did, he found himself in a sort of bunk house, adorned with furs of various animals. A green-clad boy sprang up from a hammock on the far side of the room, drawing a dagger with his right hand.

"Who goes there?" he demanded. Before any of them had a chance to answer, his eyes lit up in recognition. "Sora?"

"Hi, Peter!" Sora gave a wave, grinning.

Putting away his dagger, Peter skipped forward to meet them, each step he took barely seeming to touch the ground. "Sora! It's been such a long time!"

Out of nowhere, a tiny girl with wings appeared, fluttering happily in Sora's face. "Hi, Tink, good to see you, too!" Sora laughed. "Guys, this is Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell."

The fairy turned suddenly, as if noticing Lea for the first time, and flew right up to his face, too. She made a series of tinkling noises, like little bells, almost as if she was speaking.

Lea scratched the back of his head, looking like he felt a bit awkward. "Uh...so you remember me?" Tinkerbell nodded, and Lea gave a laugh. "Good memory. That was a long time ago."

"You've been here before?" Riku asked, surprised.

"Yeah, once," Lea replied. "Roxas and I were on a mission in a completely different part of this world than where we've been today, but we did run into her." He turned back to Tinkerbell. "Guess we didn't get properly introduced back then, though. I'm Lea. L-E-A. Got it memorized?"

"And this is Riku, and Kairi," Sora piped back in, gesturing to his friends in turn.

"Hey, you found them!" Peter exclaimed.

"Found them...?" Sora repeated, confused. "Oh, yeah! Speaking of a good memory..." He laughed. "I did find them. Then I lost them again. Then I found them again!"

"Wow," Peter replied. "Better hang onto them this time!"

Everyone laughed at that. "Yeah, I'm trying to!" Sora answered.

"I guess I should have known when the Heartless showed back up that we'd be seeing you again, too," Peter mused.

"Right, the Heartless," Sora said. "That's what we came to ask you about."

"How long have they been back around?" Riku queried.

"A couple of weeks, I guess," Peter answered. "Me and the lost boys were out playing treasure hunt, and they just started popping up everywhere."

"You didn't see anything else unusual?" Riku pressed. "Any strange darkness, or people you didn't know?"

Peter paused, thinking. "Nope, not that I can think of. Just the Heartless. Are you going to stay and fight them for a while?"

Riku could feel the eyes of his friends turn to him for the answer. He was the leader of this group, after all, and they had originally planned on being home in time for dinner tonight. But with this new development, he didn't see how they could just go back home and do nothing. "I think it's probably best if we leave for now, and try to find out if this is widespread," he replied after a moment. "But we'll be back," he quickly added, "To get rid of the Heartless for you. Just be careful until then."

Sora nodded, seeming to agree with Riku's decision. "Hey, why don't we head to Hollow Ba...I mean, Radiant Garden? If anyone knows what's going on, it'll be Leon and the gang."

"Okay, well we'll see you around, then!" Peter said with a wave.

"Hey Tinkerbell," Lea spoke up. "Would you mind giving us some of that sparkly stuff again?"

"You mean pixie dust?" Sora exclaimed. "Yeah, Tink, please?"

Before Riku could ask what they were talking about, the fairy had begun flying rapidly around the group, dropping shimmering yellow powder all over them. "What is this stuff?" he asked, rubbing some between his fingertips. Looking up, he was taken aback by the sight of Sora and Lea floating several inches off the floor.

"Ooh, I want to try!" Kairi gasped.

"Go for it!" Sora replied. "All you have to do is believe you can!"

Kairi squeezed her eyes shut with a smile, then slowly began to lift up off the ground to join Sora. "I'm doing it!" she giggled. "I'm flying!"

"Come on, Riku!" Lea urged, nudging Riku's shoulder with his foot. "Join us!"

Crossing his arms over his chest, Riku sighed grumpily. "Oh, alright," he finally gave in. "Just believe I can, huh?" He supposed that wasn't too hard to do, since his friends were obviously flying right in front of him. If they could do it, so could he. The next thing he knew, his feet had left the ground and he was floating next to the others. "Whoa," he said. "That's...weird."

"Follow me, guys!" Sora called out, beginning to fly back towards the entrance. "See ya, Peter! Bye, Tink!"

Lea was right on his heels, with Riku and Kairi at the rear, still struggling slightly to get the hang of the whole flying thing. It didn't take them long to figure it out, though, and the foursome soon found themselves soaring over mountains and waterfalls and rainbows, back toward their gummi ship. It was breathtaking, and an experience that Riku knew he wouldn't soon forget. But at the same time, he couldn't help worrying about the Heartless, and wondering if another long war lay ahead of them.


	10. Late Night Conversations

"Hey, Sora?"

"Yeah Kairi?" Sora answered, coming out of his reverie. The foursome had been riding in the gummi ship in silence for a while now, and he had zoned out a bit watching the stars fly past.

"Back in Neverland," began Kairi, "You said something like, 'those things happen to all of us'...you meant getting hurt, or even almost dying, right?"

The question took Sora by surprise. "Well, um...yeah, I guess."

"So does that mean that it has happened to you, too?" Kairi pressed. "Almost dying, I mean?"

Sora scratched his head, a hundred memories flooding his mind all at once. "Well..." He had made the comment without really thinking about it, just trying to cheer up Riku. But it was true, being in mortal danger had become a pretty routine part of his life for the past few years. For whatever reason, though, he had never shared any of those details with Kairi. They tended to only talk about the fun and adventurous parts of his travels, not the dangerous and scary ones.

Before Sora could decide how to answer, Riku jumped into the conversation from the driver's seat. "I assume you mean besides the time that he actually died, and became a Heartless," he said. "You were there for most of that, anyway."

"Oooh, what about the time I almost killed you?" Lea offered a little too eagerly, leaning forward. "The other me, that is."

"What?" Sora replied in confusion. "You never almost killed me!"

"Sure, you had a big gash across your head," Lea countered. "Could have been really bad." When Sora continued to look confused, he snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah. Castle Oblivion. Sorry, I forgot."

Sora shook his head. He still had no memories of the events of Castle Oblivion, thanks to Naminé. Lea had mentioned a few things that had happened there, but most of it was a mystery.

"Of course," Lea continued, "You healed yourself like five seconds later, and everything was fine."

Sora laughed. "Come on, I wouldn't call that almost killing me." He almost finished with, "I was the one who got you killed, remember?" but he stopped himself. Even though Lea was technically a completely different person than Axel, it was still hard to get used to him being their friend instead of a member of Organization XIII. Sora often felt awkward around him, knowing that every time Lea saw him he probably just saw the guy who was basically responsible for his death, and who took away his best friend. But at the same time, for reasons Sora couldn't explain, he found himself drawn to Lea as a friend, like he could tell him anything.

"Yeah," Lea sighed. "I bet things would have turned out a lot differently if the Nobodies knew how to heal themselves like you guys do." The other three gave him a look, and he grinned sheepishly. "Not that I wanted things to have turned out differently. Definitely glad that I'm me and not him anymore."

"Anyway," said Riku, reaching forward to adjust the ship's trajectory slightly. "There was that time that you told me about, Sora, in Deep Jungle. When the hunter, whatever his name was, shot you with his rifle?"

Sora winced at the memory and rubbed the spot on his shoulder where the bullet had entered. "Oh, yeah. Clayton. That one definitely hurt."

"Or what about Hades?" Lea put in. "Didn't you say he almost had you once or twice?"

"Yep, definitely some close calls in the Underworld," Sora nodded. "And with Jafar...and Ursula..."

"And the MCP," Riku added. "Don't forget about him."

"Yeah," Sora groaned. "That guy."

"And of course there was Xemnas," said Lea. "When Riku saved your life."

"We both saved each other multiple times during that fight," Riku quickly replied. "It went both ways."

"That's true," Sora agreed. "That was definitely one of the toughest fights we've been in so far."

"Yeah, but I'm talking about what you told me, Sora," Lea persisted, getting a bit too excited again. "At the very end when Xemnas was about to chop your head off, and Riku jumped in and blocked him, and pushed you out of the way, and then Riku got hit and he was the one who almost died instead!"

"Did not," Riku retorted.

"Well, kinda," Sora replied. He knew how much Riku hated feeling weak, which meant that as his best friend, he had to tease him about it from time to time. "You certainly weren't doing so well for a while there. I did have to pretty much carry you through the Realm of Darkness..." Riku just shook his head and pushed another button on the console.

"It was really Kairi, though, that saved us both that time," Sora continued, looking back over at her for the first time since the conversation had started. He was taken aback by the expression on her face, but couldn't quite place what it was. Fear? Or perhaps worry? "What's the matter, Kairi?"

She shook her head, her auburn locks brushing her shoulders. "Nothing."

"You shouldn't worry about something like that happening to you," said Sora, guessing at what might be bothering her. "You don't even have to go out and fight big battles like that if you don't want to. And if you do, we'll all be right there with you to give you a hand." He smiled, trying to reassure his friend.

But Kairi didn't look reassured. "That's not it," she frowned. "I'm not worried about myself." She paused, as if hesitant to continue. "I just don't like thinking about you being hurt and in danger like that. I was always worried about you while you were gone, but if I had known exactly what you were doing that whole time...I don't know if I could have handled it. I couldn't stand it if anything actually happened to you."

"It won't," Sora blurted. He knew deep inside that he could never actually guarantee that, but he also knew that he was always going to do everything in his power to take care of Kairi. "I told you I'm always with you, and that I'll come back to you, remember? And I will."

After a moment, Kairi smiled. "Okay," she said. "But you won't have to come back anymore, because I'm going to be right there with you from now on." She gestured to the other two. "With all of you!"

Sora smiled, too. "Right. We'll take on whatever they throw at us together!"

"We're here," Riku announced. "Radiant Garden." Everyone turned eagerly to their windows, but it was too dark to see much of anything. "It's pretty late," Riku continued, "So we should probably just find somewhere to stay for the night, and talk to Leon tomorrow."

"We can try Merlin's," Sora suggested. "I've stayed with him before."

"Lead the way," Riku agreed.

Merlin welcomed them in without question. Before long, he had Kairi settled into the spare bedroom, and had conjured up three cots for the boys in the main room, along with popcorn and sodas, to Sora's delight. They all kicked back with their snacks, happy to relax after such an eventful day.

"You got that message sent to our parents, right?" Sora asked Riku.

"Yeah, it's done," Riku replied. When they had gotten their own gummi ship from Cid, one of the first things that they had made sure it was capable of was sending transmissions to their families on Destiny Islands. They knew a day like today was bound to happen sooner or later, and didn't want to ever disappear with no explanation again.

"So you really have almost died a lot of times, huh?" Lea said out of nowhere, continuing their conversation from earlier.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess so," Sora answered. "Although, it's hard to say if some of them were actually almost dying or just...really bad injuries? Most of the time they got healed right away."

"Do you ever get scars, then?" Lea wondered aloud. "I'm new to this whole Cure spell thing. I know with potions, though, sometimes the bad ones can leave a scar even when you drink it right away." He pulled his left arm across his chest and pointed proudly to a jagged white line marking the back of it. "This is my best one. Got it fighting a Veil Lizard."

"Yeah, it works the same for Cure as it does for potions," Sora responded. "I've got tons of scars. Most of them aren't very big, but there are a couple of good ones. There's one here..." He pulled his collar to the side to show the mark on his shoulder. "That's from that bullet that Riku mentioned earlier. And of course there's this one." Lifting his shirt, he pointed to a large round white spot in the center of his chest. "That's where I stabbed myself, to release Kairi's heart." He noticed another strange-looking scar on his side and tapped it with his finger uncertainly. "I'm not sure where this one came from. I don't remember getting it, which means it could have happened in Castle Oblivion. Looks kinda like a burn..." Sora looked up at Lea, raising one eyebrow. "Do you have anything to say about that?"

"Uh..." Lea scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "Can't say it couldn't have been me, though I don't know for sure." He threw his hand up in a shrug. "Sorry?"

Sora laughed. "I'm just giving you a hard time. Even if it was you, that's all in the past. Besides, I won the fight, right? So I can't be too mad about it."

"I let you win," Lea scoffed. "I was just testing you, remember?"

"Yeah, sure," Sora replied, rolling his eyes.

"What about you, Riku?" Lea asked. "What's your best scar?" 

"Riku doesn't like his scars," Sora quickly told him. "He doesn't think they're cool." Sora had asked him about it after Riku had started wearing a t-shirt when they went swimming.

"Why not?" Lea asked, sounding surprised. "You know the ladies all love a good scar, especially if there's an even better story behind it."

Sora had a feeling Lea wasn't going to let the matter rest. Riku must have realized it, too, because he sighed and sat up from his cot. "Fine, here it is." Lifting up his shirt in the back ever so slightly, he turned so they could see the thick line stretching from his side all the way to his spine.

"Nice," said Lea. "Ethereal blade, right?"

Just then, the door to the spare bedroom opened, and Kairi poked her head in. Riku immediately jerked his shirt down and flopped back onto the bed.

"What are you guys doing in here?" Kairi asked suspiciously, stepping into the room. Her hair was wet like she had just gotten out of the shower.

"Comparing scars," Lea replied casually, leaning back on his elbow and taking a drink of his soda.

Kairi raised an eyebrow, and Sora jumped in to try to explain. "It's...a guy thing."

"Apparently you're hogging all the snacks, too," Kairi teased, snatching a handful of popcorn out of Riku's bowl.

"We thought you were asleep!" Sora protested.

"I'm heading to bed now," Kairi nodded. She pointed to each of the boys, narrowing her eyes slightly. "You should all do the same, if you can even sleep now after all of the soda you've been drinking."

"Yes, mother," Lea said, giving her a mock salute.

Kairi shrugged, turning to go back into her room. "Someone has to keep you boys in line while we're away from home."

"She's right," said Riku once her door was closed once more. "We should get some sleep. No telling what tomorrow is gonna bring."

"Yep," Sora agreed, setting his bowl on the floor and draining the last of his soda. "Goodnight, guys!"


	11. Nightmare

The dim light filtering through the bars of the cell door was just barely enough to illuminate the floor in front of Kairi's feet. Breathing heavily, she glanced back and forth from one gloomy stone wall to another. Was it her imagination, or were they closing in on her?

"Help!" she cried, jumping to her feet and running the few steps to the door. She clung to the cold metal bars and pressed her face up against them. "Someone please help me! Sora! Where are you?"

From out of thin air a figure appeared, cloaked in black, its face shrouded in darkness. Kairi took a step back away from the door, her heart pounding.

"Sora is not coming," the figure hissed, looming closer. "No one is going to rescue you, Princess."

"He will come," answered Kairi, her voice hardly more than a whisper. "He has to come."

The black figure began to laugh, quietly at first, then louder and louder until the evil sound echoed through Kairi's cell. Clasping her hands to her ears, she stumbled backwards until her back was up against the wall. "Please...just let me go..."

As the hooded man continued to laugh, darkness emerged from around him and began to swirl through the air. Kairi watched in horror as it grew bigger and began to consume everything around it – the bars, the walls, the floor – and finally came after her. Opening her mouth, she tried to scream, but it seemed that the darkness swallowed even her voice.

Just before the dark void closed in around her, Kairi woke, sweaty and shaking. She gulped in a deep breath of air to try and steady herself and blinked her eyes a few times to make sure the dream was really gone. Looking around the dark room, she tried to place her unfamiliar surroundings.

"Oh, right," she remembered. "Merlin's house. We're in Radiant Garden." Sitting up, she pushed the covers away and leaned over to flip on the bedside lamp. The nightmare had been so real, part of her still felt like the darkness was hovering nearby and might come after her at any moment.

There was a soft knock at the door, and Kairi jumped slightly. "Kairi?" came a hushed voice. "It's me, Sora."

"Come in," Kairi called, grateful for the prospect of some company.

The door opened and Sora poked his head in, his brown spikes tousled from lying in bed. "Is everything okay?" he asked. "I thought I heard you scream."

"I'm okay," said Kairi quickly. "I was just having a dream. I'm sorry I woke you."

"You didn't wake me." Sora stepped the rest of the way into the room and shut the door behind him. "I couldn't sleep. I don't think the others heard you, either." Walking across the small bedroom, he perched on the edge of the bed and looked at her with concern in his eyes. "Are you sure you're okay? Do you want to talk about it?"

Sighing, Kairi turned her head away. Part of her did want to tell him, but with everything that he had been through she knew her own troubles were quite trivial. Besides, she didn't want him worrying about her. "It's nothing," she said finally. "Just silly stuff, really."

"I don't think it's silly if it's bothering you," Sora disagreed. Reaching out, he grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "You can tell me if you want."

Kairi looked back into his earnest blue eyes and found herself nodding. "Okay." She took a deep breath. "I've been having these nightmares for a while now...ever since we all got back home."

"What are they about?" Sora prompted.

"Being kidnapped," Kairi replied reluctantly. "Mostly about my time in the Castle That Never Was. Usually I'm in the cell, and it feels like I'm suffocating. There are always Organization members there, though I usually can't see their faces. Sometimes they don't speak, other times they say terrible things to me, taunting me. And sometimes there's this darkness that comes, and takes over everything..." she shuddered.

"That sounds awful," said Sora, giving her hand a squeeze. "I'm so sorry."

Shaking her head, Kairi gave him a half-hearted smile. "It's nothing," she repeated. "Not a big deal."

"Sure it is," Sora exclaimed. "What you went through was terrible. It's no wonder that it's giving you nightmares. I just wish that I could have stopped it from ever happening...and that I could help you now."

"What happened wasn't your fault," Kairi responded. "You had important work to do, so you couldn't be there. I understand. I know when you found out, you got to me as quickly as you could, and you would have saved me if Naminé and Riku hadn't gotten there first."

"Yeah, I'm glad they were there for you, even though I'd rather it have been me."

"It really wasn't that bad, though," Kairi continued. "I didn't get hurt, and I was only there a few days. I feel ridiculous even bringing it up. Especially with everything that you guys have been through."

"Hey, don't talk like that," Sora scolded gently. "Just because your ordeal was different doesn't mean it was any less scary." He took a deep breath. "Sure, I've seen...and done...some terrible things, and yeah, sometimes it keeps me awake at night." For an instant there was a look in his eyes that Kairi had never seen before, and it pained her to see it now. She wondered if he was thinking again about whatever had kept him from sleeping on this particular night. But just as quickly as it came, the look was gone, and he squeezed her hand again. "But one thing that hasn't happened to me yet – I've never been kidnapped. I can't imagine what that must have been like for you."

"You're sweet," Kairi said, her smile more genuine this time. "Thank you, Sora."

"Of course," he smiled back. "You can always tell me what's on your mind, you know."

"And the same goes for you," she answered.

Leaning forward, Sora pressed his lips gently against her forehead. A shiver went down her spine, and she shut her eyes happily. "Are you ready to go back to sleep now?" he asked, pulling back to look her in the face.

Hesitating, Kairi chewed her lip. Though she did feel much better after talking, the nightmare still lurked in the corners of her mind. "Not really," she finally admitted. "I think I'll stay up a while longer." She paused again, debating whether to ask him for what she really wanted. "Would you...mind sitting up with me for a few more minutes?"

"Sure!" Sora replied immediately. "I wasn't sleeping anyway, remember?"

Scooting back further onto the bed, they leaned against the wall side by side. Kairi hugged her knees to her chest. "Tell me about another one of your adventures," she said.

"Hmm..." Sora propped his chin on his fist, thinking. "Oh, I never finished telling you about the dream worlds, did I? You've gotta hear about how I met Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, but they had no idea who I was!"

Before long, Kairi found herself smiling and giggling at Sora's stories, her dreams far from her thoughts. They both got so caught up in talking that they forgot about the time. Eventually, though, Kairi's eyelids started feeling very heavy, and she could hear Sora's voice sounding sleepy, too, slowing until he had stopped talking altogether. Without really realizing what she was doing, she let her head slide down the wall until it rested on Sora's shoulder, and drifted off to sleep.


	12. Radiant Garden

Yawning and stretching, Lea blinked in the morning sun and took in the sights around him. Radiant Garden. The world that he had called home for so long, where he grew up with Isa, and where their lives had changed forever. He had not been back here since his early days as Axel, when the Organization had changed their headquarters from the castle here to The Castle That Never Was. Being here now almost felt like stepping into a dream. So much had changed, yet it was all still exactly the same.

"Wow, it's really nice here," came a voice from behind him. Kairi stepped up next to him and joined him in looking around the streets. "I love the stone streets, and the flowers."

"Mm-hmm," Lea nodded noncommittally.

"This is your home world, right?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah, it is," Lea sighed.

"Mine, too," said Kairi. Lea looked at her in surprise. He had assumed that she was originally from Destiny Islands. "I don't really remember much of it, though," she continued. "I washed up on the beach on the Island when I was pretty little, and I had no memory then, except for my name." She looked up at him with a smile. "Wonder if we ever met, when we were kids?"

Lea crossed his arms, contemplating that idea. "I guess we could have. You never know."

Furrowing her brow, Kairi watched him. "Is this your first time back here since becoming yourself again?"

"Yeah," Lea replied, scratching the back of his head. "Since even longer than that, actually."

"I would have thought that this would be the first place you would come," Kairi commented, sounding surprised.

Lea just shrugged. He knew that would be her reaction. He hadn't necessarily been avoiding this world on purpose, but he certainly hadn't been in a rush to come back, either. There were so many memories here, both good and bad, and he wasn't sure that he was prepared to deal with them quite yet.

"Don't you have any family left here?" Kairi asked.

"Nah," Lea said. Honestly he didn't know the true answer. He hadn't checked, and didn't plan on doing so.

"Are you sure?" Kairi pressed.

Lea sighed. He knew that she was just being concerned for him, but she had turned on her interrogation mode and he was more than ready for a subject change. "There was only my dad. If he's still alive, he thinks I've been dead for years, and I'm not in a hurry to prove him wrong."

"Oh." Kairi fell quiet, and Lea wondered if she was coming up with her next question. Thankfully, he didn't have to find out, because Riku walked out of Merlin's house just then and joined them.

"Merlin sent word to the Restoration Committee," he announced. "They should be on their way."

"Restoration Committee?" Lea repeated. Riku began to explain, but Lea was no longer listening. All he could hear was the pounding of his own heart in his ears. He had just turned around and seen the castle for the first time, looming above them from behind Merlin's house. He had known, of course, that he would see it while they were here, but that had not prepared him for the rush of memories and emotions that actually beholding it had brought. His stomach felt a bit nauseous as he continued to stare, unable to tear his eyes away.

"Lea? Are you okay?"

Kairi's voice finally broke through to his consciousness, and he swallowed past the lump in his throat, forcing himself to look down at his friends. They were both staring at him, confusion and concern etched on their faces.

Riku glanced up at the castle, then back at Lea. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"No," Lea answered quickly, dropping his gaze to the ground. "Everything's fine."

"That castle..." Kairi said. "You have some sort of connection to it?"

Lea gave a bitter laugh. "I guess you could say that." Heaving a sigh, he gestured up to the castle without looking. "That's...where it happened. Where we became Nobodies."

"We?" Riku queried.

"Isa and me," Lea explained, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Oh," said Kairi softly. "I guess I never really thought about how you became a Nobody before, but you had to have...died, right?"

"Yeah," Lea answered. "Yeah, we did." The images and sounds were trying to force their way into his mind, and he didn't know if he could keep fighting them off. He laughed, hoping to jolt his brain back to the present. "Let's just say it wasn't pretty, and leave it at that."

Kairi placed her hand gently on his arm. "If you want to talk about it..."

"No," Lea replied without hesitation. "I don't. I'm gonna go back inside to wait for...whoever we're waiting for." Turning on his heel, he fled back into Merlin's house, away from the ominous shadow of that castle.

It wasn't long before the members of the group began to arrive. The two girls came in at the same time, the tallest one immediately embracing both Sora and Kairi.

"I know we haven't actually met before," she told a slightly confused Kairi. "But we've heard so much about you, I feel like we know you already. I'm Aerith, by the way, and this is Yuffie."

"Hi!" Yuffie said with a wave.

"I've heard a lot about all of you, too," Kairi smiled back.

"And these are our friends Riku and Lea," Sora offered.

"Nice to meet you," Aerith nodded.

There came another knock on the door, and Sora jumped over to swing it open wide. "Hey, Cid!" he called out.

The burly blonde man grunted a greeting as he walked in. "There sure are a lot of you this time," he observed. Introductions were made all around, then Cid took his place at the computer and started punching keys.

"Sora," a voice said quietly. Everyone turned to see another man, dressed in black leather and multiple brown belts, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.

"Leon!" Sora greeted him happily.

"I figured we'd be seeing you soon," Leon commented without moving from his place. "Who are your friends?"

"This is Lea, and Riku, and Kairi," Sora announced proudly.

Leon turned a steely gaze on each of them in turn, saying nothing. Finally he straightened and walked further into the room. "Nice to meet you all."

"So what made you think you'd be seeing me soon?" Sora asked.

"The Heartless," Yuffie answered for him. "Whenever they show up, you're not too far behind."

"So they're here, too?" Riku spoke up.

"Since about two weeks ago," Leon nodded. "Thankfully we still have our protection systems in place, so we've been able to keep them under control for the most part."

"You said 'here, too'..." Cid noted. "How many other worlds have you seen them on?"

"Just one so far," Sora replied. "We were out doing some training yesterday and ran into them on Neverland. We came straight here after that."

"Well, looks we had the same thought." This voice was higher-pitched than all the rest in the room, but still commanding. Everyone whirled around to see who had just come through the still-open door.

"King Mickey!" Sora cried excitedly. There were exclamations of happiness and greetings from everyone. Even Lea now had a smile on his face. It was impossible to be glum when the King was around.

"Gosh, it's good to see everyone," Mickey said finally. "I just wish it wasn't 'cause of the Heartless again."

"Me, too," Sora sighed.

"Where did you see them?" Riku asked.

"I haven't actually seen 'em yet," Mickey admitted. "I've just been hearing reports that they've been sighted on various worlds. I came to see if anyone else had heard the same thing."

"We don't know much of anything," Leon replied. "We've been too busy keeping up with things here to be able to go out and look into it."

"And no one has seen anything of Organization XIII?" Mickey asked.

Everyone shook their heads. "Someone should go out to the other worlds," Riku suggested. "See if this is widespread, and if anyone knows who is behind it."

"We can do it, right guys?" Sora offered eagerly. "It'll be on-the-job training for Kairi and Lea!"

"Fine by me," Lea spoke up for the first time.

"I'm in!" Kairi agreed.

Riku nodded. "Okay, but we should probably split up. That way we can cover more ground in less time. We'll just need a second gummi ship."

"I can take care of that," Cid volunteered.

"Great," Riku said. "Sora, you take Kairi. Lea, you're with me. We'll each hit as many worlds as we can in the next two days, then meet back here."

Sora and Kairi grinned at each other. "Okay, sounds good!" Sora exclaimed.

Pointing at them sternly, Riku cleared his throat. "No goofing off," he ordered. "I'm trusting you two to not get too distracted by each other to do your jobs." Both of their faces turned red as others in the room snickered, but Riku seemed to ignore all of that. "And don't spend too much time actually battling the Heartless right now. This is just reconnaissance, just like on Neverland."

Recovering his dignity, Sora saluted. "Yes, sir! We can handle it!"

"I'm gonna head back home to pick up Donald and Goofy," Mickey said. "Then we'll go see Yen Sid, to see what he knows about all of this."

"And we'll be here holding down the fort," Yuffie nodded.

"See you all in two days," said Leon. "Be careful out there."


	13. Pridelands

Riku and Lea settled into their seats on the gummi ship, readying for takeoff. It was strange, only having the two of them there. Riku glanced over at Lea, who still had not said much since that morning.

"You okay?" he asked, flipping a few switches on the ship's console.

"Yep," Lea answered. "Ready to get out of here."

Riku paused in his preparations, thinking. He hated talking about himself, but he felt like he needed to say something. "Listen, about this morning...you're not the only one running from stuff you'd rather forget. Stuff that you've done...stuff that was done to you..." He stopped for a moment, then quickly added, "That's not to downplay what you're going through. That's just to say...we understand, at least to some extent." Riku sighed. "And I'm the very last person to be giving you any advice about this, because I doubt I'll ever talk to anyone about my own ghosts. But...we're your friends, and we care. If you ever feel like talking to any of us about anything, we'll be here."

Lea didn't answer right away, and Riku wondered if he had overstepped his boundaries. After all, they really didn't know each other that well.

Finally Lea nodded, though he still avoided eye contact. "Thanks, man. I don't know whether I'll ever be able to talk about it or not, but...I appreciate it, either way."

Riku gave a grim smile and reached forward to push a final button. "Alright, now let's get out of here. Where should we go?"

"Wait, you're gonna let me decide?" Lea asked, incredulous.

"Why not?" Riku shrugged. "I haven't been to as many different worlds as you and Sora have, and the ones that I have been to...well, let's just say I didn't make many friends while I was there. So if there's somewhere you'd like to revisit, or you want to try somewhere new, I'm open to suggestions."

"Hmm," said Lea, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Let's go with somewhere new. I think I've had enough of reliving the past today."

"Sounds good to me," Riku replied. "When you see the one, just say the word."

* * *

"I hate you."

Lea laughed and pranced around happily. "Aw, come on! This is great!"

"I'm never letting you choose the world again," Riku growled.

"Don't tell me you've never wondered what this would be like," Lea pressed.

"No, I can't say that I have ever wondered that," Riku replied, rolling his eyes. "I like having two feet and two hands, thank you very much!"

"You're just jealous that you don't have as awesome of a mane as me," Lea gloated, shaking the bright red fur around.

Riku glared at him. "Yours is just longer because you're older," he pointed out. "And no, I'm not jealous of it. I'm jealous of myself, five minutes ago, when I had hands!" He looked down at his silvery paws and groaned. "How are we even supposed to hold our Keyblades like this?"

"Hmm, good question," Lea mused. Riku watched with perturbed amusement as Lea tried a few different things, flexing his paws, flicking his tail, and finally dropping his jaw. The Keyblade materialized in his mouth, and he laughed in triumph.

"Ah ha!" he said through his teeth. "Here we go!"

"Great," Riku scowled. "So we have to figure out how to run on four legs and fight with our mouths at the same time. Perfect."

Lea dismissed the Keyblade and nudged Riku with his shoulder. "So we're on the same level for once," he teased.

Riku raised an eyebrow at him, even though he wasn't sure that he currently actually had eyebrows. "I guess that's one way to look at it." He sighed. "Okay, come on. We'll figure this out together."

They turned, only to see an older, larger lion staring at them from a few yards away. "Outsiders," he said in an accusatory tone. "You're trespassing here. Are you with Zira?"

"No, we're not," Riku quickly answered.

"Don't even know who that is," Lea added.

The lion took a menacing step forward. "Then who are you?"

"We're friends of Sora," Riku replied. He was hoping that this was the lion that Sora had told him about from his previous trips here, or at least someone whom he had met.

Recognition lit up the lion's eyes, but his expression remained stoic. "Can you prove this?"

Riku and Lea glanced at each other, then summoned their Keyblades at the same time. The lion broke into a smile.

"Ah, I see. Well, any friend of Sora's is a friend of mine." He approached the two newcomers as they dismissed their weapons. "Welcome to the Pridelands. My name is Simba."

"I remember Sora mentioning you," Riku said. "My name's Riku, and this is Lea."

"Should I assume that you're here about the Heartless?" Simba questioned.

"So they are here?" Lea asked. When Simba nodded, he continued. "Yeah, that's why we're here. They've started showing up in several places recently, it seems."

As if on cue, Shadows, Soldiers, and Silver Rocks began popping up out of the darkness all around them. "Guess it's time to figure out that new fighting technique," Lea quipped.

"We'll take care of them," Riku called to Simba.

"I'm going to help," Simba replied. With that, he let out a ferocious roar and charged at the nearest Heartless.

Rather impressed, Riku joined him, swinging his head back and forth to slash at the monsters. Even with the Keyblade in his mouth, the Shadows and Soldiers were relatively easy to take out. He kept glancing over at Lea and Simba whenever he had a moment, but they seemed to be doing just fine. Lea was holding his own against the smaller Heartless, and even looked like he was enjoying himself. Simba may not have had a Keyblade, but he had teeth and claws, and unlike the other two, he knew exactly how to use them.

With the easy ones taken care of, Riku turned his attention to the Silver Rock hovering nearby. If he was his normal height, he would have been able to reach it with a small jump, but in this form it was way above his head. It was time to see how this four-legged thing really worked. Crouching down, he pushed off with all four paws at once and sprang up into the air, surprising himself at the height he reached. He got in a few hits before landing on the ground once more, stumbling a bit as he tried to get his legs back underneath him. Once he had regained his footing, he leaped up again, this time taking out the Heartless and landing much more smoothly with his front feet first.

Whirling around, Riku readied to take on the next target, but saw that Simba and Lea were already fighting the last two. He watched as they finished them off, looking around to see if any more were going to appear. Everything remained quiet, so he dismissed his Keyblade, glad to not have to carry it in his mouth anymore.

"Nice work," he said, joining the others. "Thanks for your help, Simba."

"Of course," Simba replied. "We've been fighting them off as much as we can ever since they first came back. I've had to confine my daughter, Kiara, to Pride Rock, to keep her safe." He sighed. "She's not happy with me, but what can I do?"

"I understand," Riku told him. "I wish we could help now, but unfortunately we can't stay. Right now we're just trying to find out how widespread this is, and if anyone knows the cause."

"Speaking of which," Lea cut in. "Have you seen anything else unusual, besides the Heartless? Any other outsiders?"

Simba shook his head. "No. Just Zira and her pride, but they've been a growing problem for years. Nothing unusual until the Heartless arrived." He looked back over his shoulder, seeming lost in thought for a moment. "You're sure you can't stay and fight?"

"I'm sorry," Riku said honestly. "But we'll be back as soon as we can, don't worry."

"Alright then," Simba nodded. "Give my regards to Sora, when you see him."

"We will," Riku agreed. Turning, he and Lea began to walk back to the gummi ship. "Well, this whole lion thing was not quite as bad as I thought it would be," he admitted. "But that doesn't mean I'm not more than ready to have my normal body back." He laughed a little. "It also doesn't mean that I'm not going to send Sora back here to fight the Heartless instead of coming myself. Maybe you can come with him; you two seem to enjoy being lions."

Lea shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, it's not every day you get to try out a different form. I think it was pretty fun!"

"I'm still choosing the next world," Riku warned him as they boarded the ship.

"Fair enough," Lea laughed.


	14. Beast's Castle

"Alright, this is it!" Sora said excitedly. "We've got the whole universe in front of us, and can go anywhere you want."

"I know!" Kairi exclaimed breathlessly. "I've been waiting for this moment for so long. But now that it's here...I can't decide! There are too many worlds to choose from." She dropped back into the passenger seat of the gummi ship with a sigh. "You're going to have to pick for me! Just make it somewhere that you've been before. I want to see a world that I've heard about from you."

Sora was surprised, but also a bit relieved. He had been certain that she was going to choose Atlantica, and he hadn't exactly told her all of the details of his last visit there. If they ended up there, he knew that somebody was going to mention the musical that he had been a part of, and he wasn't sure that he wanted her to know about that. Sure, it had been fun, but a bit embarrassing in retrospect. Of course, there would be the bonus of getting to see Kairi as a mermaid, and that was definitely something that interested him.

"So...?" Kairi interrupted his thoughts. "What's it going to be?"

"Oh! Uh..." Sora rushed to think of a place before she could ask him what he had just been thinking about. "Well, I have been wondering whatever happened with Beast and Belle. They had such a rough start to their relationship. How about we visit them?"

"Yeah, okay," Kairi answered, sounding a little unsure.

Sora cocked his head to the side, watching her. "We don't have to, if you'd rather go someplace else."

Kairi shook her head. "No, it's fine. It's just that thinking about the Beast makes me a little nervous. He always sounded kind of scary in your stories. But I know you said that he's really a nice guy deep down, so..." She gave a decisive nod. "Yes, I'd love to meet them."

"Great!" Sora replied. "He's really not that scary, I promise. And I think you're really going to like Belle and the others."

"Oh right, the talking candlestick and teapot?" Kairi giggled. "I definitely want to meet them!"

The new gummi ship that they were borrowing from Cid handled a little differently than what Sora was used to, so it took a some trial and error to fly at first. But before long, they found themselves landing at Beast's Castle. Climbing out of the ship, Sora looked around in awe at the white walls and red roof tiles gleaming in the sunlight.

"Whoa," he breathed.

"This doesn't look anything like what I was imagining when you described it," Kairi commented uncertainly.

"No, this is not the same castle!" Sora answered. "I mean, it is, we're not in the wrong place or anything. At least I don't think we are." He scratched the side of his head. "But this looks totally different than it used to! Those statues used to be ugly gargoyles!" he exclaimed, pointing up at a white stone angel perched on the corner of the roof.

"It has to be some kind of magic, right?" Kairi asked. "To change things that much?"

Before Sora could answer, he heard a familiar voice call his name. Smiling, he turned to see Belle running out of the castle to meet them.

"It's so good to see you!" she said, hugging him.

"Uh, hi," Sora replied, a little embarrassed by the hug. Pulling back, he gestured toward Kairi. "Kairi, this is Belle. Belle, this is my..." he stopped suddenly, realizing that he had been about to use a term that they hadn't actually agreed on yet. Clearing his throat, he glanced at Kairi, wondering how to continue.

"It's okay," Kairi whispered with a smile. "You can say it."

Sora didn't know how she always seemed to know what he was trying to say before he had actually said it. "My girlfriend," he announced proudly. "This is my girlfriend, Kairi."

"Very nice to meet you," Belle greeted her. She turned back to Sora. "I had so hoped that we would meet again. As you can see, a lot has changed around here."

Sora gave a long whistle. "I'd say! How did this happen?"

"Why don't you two come inside, and I'll tell you all about it?" Belle offered.

They agreed, and she led them up the walkway and through the towering double doors into a grand hall. Even the inside of the castle had changed, looking much less gloomy and more freshly decorated, just like the outside. Just as they made it through the door, however, Heartless began appearing throughout the room.

Belle gasped. "They're inside the castle now?"

"Get to safety," Sora ordered her, summoning his Keyblade. "We'll handle these guys." Belle complied, fleeing to the next room and shutting the door behind her. "You ready?" Sora asked, looking to Kairi.

She nodded, Keyblade in hand. "Ready!"

Leaping forward, they both began rapidly striking the Shadows and Soldiers. A fireball from a Red Nocturne flew past Sora's shoulder, narrowly missing him. He glanced up at it and the other Nocturnes and Blue Rhapsodies hovering around the room. "Let's take out the flying ones first!" he called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, good idea!" Kairi shouted back.

"Remember, Fire for the blue ones, Blizzard for the red!" Sora aimed his Keyblade as he spoke, and cast Blizzard on the Heartless who had been shooting at him. Looking behind him, he saw Kairi take out a Rhapsody with a Fire spell. "Nice one!" he exclaimed.

Another Blue Rhapsody was nearby, trying to hit him with ice, so he spun around towards it and cast Fire. When it fell back, he ran up to it and jumped in the air, hitting it twice with his Keyblade. It vanished, leaving only a pink heart floating up toward the ceiling.

Landing back on the ground, Sora saw that the other, non-flying Heartless had begun closing in on him. He waved his arm at Kairi. "Stay back!" he commanded. When he was sure she was out of the way, he lifted his Keyblade in the air. "Thunder!" he shouted. Lightning bolts shot out of the end of the Keyblade, striking every Heartless around him. The Shadows disappeared into the darkness, and Kairi ran back in next to him to help him finish off the Soldiers with a few more hits.

With those taken care of, they paused to catch their breath. They didn't have long, however, because more Heartless were appearing. "Are those...dogs?" Kairi asked.

They certainly looked like dogs, though they were green and had rather sharp teeth. "I doubt they're friendly," Sora quipped. "If you take those, I'll take the bats."

"Deal," Kairi agreed. She charged at the closest dog, swinging her Keyblade at its head while dodging its biting attack. Sora got distracted for a moment watching her, and almost forgot about the Hook Bats nearby until one swooped down and hit him on the head.

"Aah!" he growled. Jumping up, he swung furiously at the Heartless, getting in a few hits before falling back to the floor. The bat darted away, and Sora ran after it. When he got close enough, he leaped up again, this time grabbing onto the hook that hung down from the bat's feet. The creature tried to shake him, but Sora just used the momentum to kick out his legs and knock down the other bats in the vicinity. Finally letting go, he cast Thunder again and watched as the hearts floated away.

"I could use some help!" Kairi yelled from the other side of the room. She was trying to fend off two of the dogs at once, and they had her almost backed into a corner. Sora ran toward her as fast as he could, hitting one of the monsters from behind to gain its attention.

The dog lunged at him, growling and snapping, and Sora threw his Keyblade up in front of him to stop it. This seemed to stun the creature for a second, giving Sora an opportunity to go in for an attack. "If you block the bite with your Keyblade, it'll give you an opening," he called over to Kairi.

"Yes! It worked!" Her Heartless vanished right before Sora's did the same. She let out a huge sigh. "Whew! That was intense!"

"Great work!" Sora replied, giving her a high five.

The door next to them opened, and Belle re-emerged, this time with a tall man with light brown hair pulled back at the base of his neck. "Thank you!" Belle exclaimed. "Those pesky monsters have been bothering us for a few weeks now."

"That's why we're here," Kairi explained. "To find out if you had seen them, or anyone that might have brought them."

"We've certainly seen them," the man replied. "But I have no idea why they're back."

Sora looked at him curiously. The man seemed somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place where he might have seen him. "Have we met before?" he asked.

Belle laughed. "Oh, right. I forgot I hadn't gotten to tell you the story yet." She placed her hand on the man's arm. "This is Prince Adam. Sora, you knew him as the Beast."

"Huh?" Sora's eyebrows flew up in surprise. "What do you mean?" He looked Adam up and down. This couldn't possibly be the Beast, could it?

"I was under a curse," Adam explained. "As was the rest of the castle. But thanks to Belle, the curse has been broken." He gazed lovingly into her eyes.

Kairi clasped her hands together. "That's so wonderful," she sighed.

"Yeah, that's great!" Sora grinned. "I'm happy that everything is working out for you two." He glanced sideways at Kairi. "I guess now that we know the Heartless are here, too, we should get going. We have more worlds to visit if we're going to figure out what exactly is going on."

Belle nodded in understanding. "You must come back soon. I know Lumiere and Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts will want to see you again, especially now that they're human again, too."

"They are?" Sora exclaimed. "Wow!" That explained all the talking objects, he supposed.

Kairi smiled. "Yes, we'll definitely be back soon."

As Sora and Kairi settled back into the gummi ship for the next leg of their journey, Kairi sighed happily. "I'm so glad that we came here. I love happy endings!"

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "Now we just need to make sure to get rid of these Heartless for good, so that it can really be a happy ending for them."

Kairi nodded firmly. "Well then, no time to waste! Let's go!"


	15. Arendelle

**Author's Note: I wrote this chapter before the new trailers came out! I was purposely trying to avoid using worlds that I knew were going to be in KH3, though I'm really not surprised that this one made it in. Anyway, obviously my take on it will be a little different than what is actually going to happen, but hope you enjoy anyway.**

* * *

"This is so exciting," Kairi exclaimed, looking around eagerly. "A brand new world, where none of us have ever been!"

They were passing through what looked like a market, with a wharf down the hill to their left. Ahead, a sprawling palace was partially hidden behind a stone wall, but lights were shining out through the open gate and into the night. "Looks like something's going on in there," Sora commented, pointing at the crowd of people just visible inside the courtyard. "Let's go check it out!"

He grabbed her hand, making her smile, and they jogged forward across the bridge and through the gate. Dozens of people were milling about, talking and laughing as if they were at a party.

"I wonder what this is all about?" Kairi whispered, leaning in toward Sora.

Suddenly, the doors of the palace burst open and a young woman with blonde hair and a regal cape ran out onto the steps. "There she is!" someone shouted, and the entire crowd turned toward her and began to cheer and applaud. The young woman took off again, disappearing momentarily into the throng.

Kairi heard the man next to her mention the queen, and she stood on her tiptoes trying to see. "Do you think that was really the queen?" she asked.

"I don't know," Sora replied, "But she looked kinda scared to me."

"Do you think it could be Heartless?" Kairi frowned. Just then she spotted the woman again, standing in an opening in the middle of the courtyard. When she stumbled backwards against a large water fountain, every drop of water, even what was spraying into the air, turned to solid ice in a rather grand sculpture. Everyone gasped, including Kairi, and many began to back away in fear.

Three angry-looking men appeared in the doorway. "Stop her!" the older man yelled, pointing at the blonde.

"Please, just stay away from me," she pleaded. "Stay away!" As she waved her hands desperately in front of her face, ice shot forward and sprayed all over the steps, knocking all three men down.

"Monster!" the same man shouted. Now some of the onlookers screamed, and those closest to the exit began to run away.

"Should we do something?" Kairi asked, grabbing Sora's arm. She didn't know what they would do, but it seemed like someone should step in before things got further out of hand.

Sora opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the young woman tearing past them out the gate. Another girl, this one with red hair, came running out the doors and down the stairs, with a young man close on her heels.

"Elsa!" she called. She and the man chased after the first woman, through the gate and down the hill towards the water. Sora and Kairi glanced at each other, then followed right behind. When they reached the top of the hill, the blonde woman was running across the water on ice that was appearing beneath her feet. The younger girl and the man had stopped where the ice began, watching her disappear.

"Look," Sora said, pointing out at the water. The icy path was spreading, soon overtaking the entire harbor and freezing all of the ships into place.

"So, she has some kind of magic, I guess?" Kairi wondered aloud, watching in fascination.

"Yeah, she must," Sora replied. "Doesn't seem like anybody else knew about it, though. They all seem pretty scared of her. Magic must not be common here."

Kairi shook her head in pity. "Poor thing. I wish we could help her somehow."

Without warning, Heartless began popping up out of the ground all throughout the area. Sora and Kairi both summoned their Keyblades simultaneously and ran down the path towards the bewildered couple.

"Get out of here!" Sora ordered them. "We'll handle these guys."

They obeyed willingly, fleeing back up the path the way they came. As the two wielders began clearing out the Shadows, the temperature of the air began to drop drastically. By the time the last Heartless was gone, the night had gone from balmy to wintry.

Kairi shivered a bit and rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms. "Brr!" she exclaimed. "Where did this chill come from?"

"I'll bet it has something to do with her ice powers," Sora answered, turning his face up to the sky. "Look!"

Small white flakes were dancing through the sky, floating slowly down to the ground. Kairi gasped and held out her hands. "Is that...snow?" She spun around in a circle, giggling. "I've always heard about snow, but I've never actually seen it before! It's beautiful!"

Sora grinned at her. "Yeah. But we'd better head back and make sure everyone's okay."

When they reached the palace courtyard again, there was a rather heated discussion going on between the couple from the harbor and the older gentleman who they had seen before.

"She didn't mean it, she didn't mean any of this," the girl was saying. "Tonight was my fault. I pushed her, so I'm the one who needs to go after her."

"Please, Anna, no! It's too dangerous," argued the young man, laying his hand on her shoulder.

"Elsa's not dangerous," Anna countered. "I'll bring her back, and I'll make this right."

"I'm coming with you," said her companion.

"I need you here, to take care of Arendelle," Anna disagreed.

Kairi stepped forward. "We can go with her!"

Grabbing her hand, Sora pulled her in close and whispered, "What are you doing? We're not supposed to get too involved, remember? We already know there are Heartless here."

"Exactly!" Kairi whispered back. "We can't just let her go out there all alone with Heartless around."

Sora seemed to consider this for a moment, then turned back to the others. "Uh, right. Yeah. We can go with her."

"Who are you?" the young man asked, confused. "And what were those creatures that we saw earlier?"

"I'm Kairi, and this is Sora," Kairi offered. "Those creatures are called Heartless, and they're very dangerous."

"But we know how to fight them," Sora broke in. "So we can keep her safe."

"Very well then, you can come along," Anna replied. She turned to a manservant standing nearby. "Fetch cloaks for all three of us, please."

In only a few moments they were on their way, crossing the solid ice toward the mountains, and trudging through the rapidly gathering snow. Admittedly, it didn't make traveling very easy, as it piled up ankle and then knee high, and Kairi's legs and feet were freezing. But she was still in awe of how pretty it made everything, especially as the sun began to come up and sparkle off of the surface of the snow.

As they walked, they got to know Anna better. It turned out that she was the princess of this kingdom, and Elsa was her older sister who had just been crowned queen. The young man Anna had been with was Prince Hans, who she had just met that previous day and gotten engaged to that evening.

"Isn't that awfully fast?" Kairi asked, surprised.

"Maybe," Anna answered with a dreamy sigh. "But it's true love, and when it's true love it doesn't matter.

Kairi smiled at Sora and they both shrugged. How was she going to argue with that?

Every once in a while, Anna would call out into the forest that surrounded them. "Elsa! Elsa! It's me, Anna! Your sister who didn't mean to make you freeze the summer!" She laughed a little and lowered her voice. "Of course, that wouldn't have happened if she had just told me her secret. She's a stinker."

Kairi laughed, but then noticed something in the distance. "Heartless!" she shouted, pointing. She and Sora summoned their Keyblades, much to Anna's surprise.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "Where did those come from?"

"Go!" Sora told her with a wave of his arm. "We'll catch up with you later, just run!"

The Heartless were multiplying rapidly, those with feet standing up on top of the snow as if they were weightless. Kairi could feel her heart pounding as she readied herself for battle. She wasn't sure if she would ever not feel nervous when facing these monsters.

"Ready?" asked Sora.

She let out her breath. "Ready."

They charged forward and began to attack. The first Heartless that had appeared were both kinds that Kairi had never seen before. One looked like it had its head frozen in a block of ice, and the other resembled a blue flower. Both kinds were shooting ice everywhere, so Kairi and Sora had to dodge back and forth as they ran toward them. Thankfully the snow was a little less deep in this area, so maneuvering was difficult, but not impossible.

An ice shard grazed Kairi's leg, causing her to wince in pain, but she kept running and swinging her Keyblade. After only a couple of minutes, the initial group of Heartless was gone, but they were quickly replaced by even more. Now there were Large Bodies, something pink that hovered in the air, and two other kinds that Kairi didn't recognize. She stopped for a moment and looked around, overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.

Sora must have seen the anxiety on her face, because he called out to her, "Just take it one at a time!"

Kairi nodded with determination. "Right." Spinning around to the left, she started attacking the nearest Heartless until a Large Body interrupted by charging in her direction. She jumped to the side to avoid it, then began beating it on the back when it had passed her. It turned to face her, and she ran around behind it again. A few more hits and it disappeared.

One of the pink Heartless was now trying to swoop down and run into her, so Kairi threw up her Keyblade to block it. She didn't know if there was a certain kind of magic to use on these, but she decided to just give something a try. "Fire!" she shouted. The Heartless spun away from her, seeming to take some damage from the fireball. She shot another, then leaped into the air as high as she could and finished it off with two swings of the Keyblade.

Turning her attention to the next pink Heartless, Kairi smiled grimly, her confidence growing with each passing moment. "Fire!" she yelled again. The creature fell back, as the first one had, but then immediately flew forward and released a purple cloud all around Kairi. Squeezing her eyes shut, she coughed and tried to wave the smoke away with her hand. But when she opened her eyes to see if it was gone, everything was completely black.

Kairi blinked rapidly, her fear rising. Why couldn't she see anything? "Sora!" she called out, her voice shaking. There was no answer, but she sucked in a breath and tried to calm herself. Riku had warned them about things like this happening. She knew that it was only temporary, but she also knew that she was surrounded by Heartless who could attack her at any moment. Swinging her Keyblade around in front of her, she half expected to make contact with some unseen monster, but met only air.

"Kairi, watch out!" Sora shouted from somewhere nearby. Cringing with her arms across her face, she waited for the blow, but it never came. Instead her vision returned, though cloudy at first. Nothing was immediately in front of her, so she spun around, only to see Sora standing there with a strange expression.

"Sora...?" Kairi said uncertainly. He began to fall forward, his knees buckling beneath him. Reaching out her arms quickly, Kairi caught him and stumbled backwards onto the ground.

"Sora, what's wrong?" she cried. Then she looked over his shoulder and saw the spear of ice jutting out of his back, with blood rapidly spreading around it. "No!" she gasped. That had been meant for her, she was sure of it. He must have jumped out in front of it to protect her.

Heartless were encroaching on them where they sat in the snow, and Kairi felt her anger at them bubbling up inside of her. She thrusted her Keyblade up into the air and screamed, "Yaaah!" Lightning erupted from the tip of the weapon, throwing back all of the monsters that were close by. Kairi blinked in surprise. She didn't even know she could cast a Thunder spell.

"Kairi..." Sora moaned, his head laying on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I've got you," Kairi shushed him, tears running down her face. "I'm gonna get this thing out, okay?" Taking hold of the spear with her free hand, she yanked it out as quickly as she could. Sora grunted in pain. Kairi adjusted her hold on him so that he could turn over on his back and she could see his face.

"Okay, I'm gonna get you a potion." She reached into her pocket, but there was nothing there. Beginning to panic, she patted the pocket desperately and began to look around her in the snow. "It's gone!" she cried. "I know I had one left, but it's not here! It must have fallen out somewhere."

"Use Cure," Sora managed to say.

Wide-eyed, Kairi looked at him and shook her head. "I can't! I've only ever been able to do it twice, and that was on me, not another person!"

"You can do it," Sora whispered. He reached up a shaky hand and placed it on her cheek. "You just did Thunder without anyone teaching you how. I know you can do this." He let his arm drop back down to his side, too weak to hold it up any longer.

Kairi shut her eyes and went over the instructions in her mind for the thousandth time. She knew that it was possible to use Cure on another person, and she was pretty positive that she needed to say his name to do so. But she was filled with doubt, and it was never going to work if that didn't change. She had to do this, or Sora would die. How had she been able to cast Thunder so easily a moment ago? She guessed that it had something to do with the raw emotion she had felt. That's what she would do, then. She would use her emotion, her love for Sora, to heal him. She had to.

Lifting her Keyblade, Kairi took a deep breath, and let her love and fear for Sora's life flood through her. "Sora!" she shouted, her voice almost catching in her throat.

The spell worked. A yellow flower blossomed over their heads, and green lights showered down around Sora. His eyes opened wide, and he pushed himself up from Kairi's lap.

Kairi's tears changed to those of joy as she threw her arms around his neck, laughing. Sora returned the hug, squeezing her tight.

"You did it!" he said. "I knew you could!"

Pulling away, Kairi grabbed his shoulders firmly and shook them a little. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" she ordered.

"Fire!" Sora yelled in return, shooting something behind her with his Keyblade. Kairi looked back in surprise.

"Oh yeah," she groaned. "Guess we have a few more of these guys to take care of."

"Let's do it!" Sora exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

By the time they finished cleaning up the Heartless and finally caught up with Anna, darkness had fallen again, and Kairi was numb with cold from head to toe. Thankfully, the place that they found the princess was a trading post that was toasty warm inside.

"There you two are!" Anna exclaimed as they entered. "I was getting worried about you!"

"Well, we're safe," Kairi replied, casting a meaningful glance at Sora. "And we're glad you are, too."

"Thanks to you two," said Anna. "I've got great news! I found someone who knows where Elsa went." She gestured to a man who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "This is Kristoff. He has a sled, and he's agreed to take me up the North Mountain."

"Not like you gave me much choice," Kristoff muttered under his breath.

"That's great!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Yeah, really great, because...we should really be going," Sora said. "We've got an important meeting to get to tomorrow morning, and we still have to get all the way back down this mountain."

"Right," Kairi sighed. "Well, now that you have someone else with you, you should be alright. Just steer clear of any Heartless you see."

"Okay, we will," Anna agreed. "Thanks so much for all of your help."

"No problem," Sora replied.

"We'll be back soon," Kairi promised. "To finish fighting the Heartless, and to see how things turned out with your sister."

Waving their goodbyes, Sora and Kairi began their trek back down to the gummi ship, only stopping for one snowball fight along the way.


	16. Jamestown

"I hereby claim this land in the name of His Majesty King James the First, and do so name this settlement...Jamestown."

The crowd of men listening to the speech burst into applause and cheers, then began to disperse. Lea leaned over to Riku. "What did we just walk into?" he whispered.

Riku shrugged. "At least there are no Heartless around so far."

A tall blonde man approached them with a frown on his face. "I don't remember seeing you two on the ship," he said, clearly confused by their presence.

"Ship?" Lea repeated. His mind immediately went to the gummi ship, but then he realized that there was a ship of the water-sailing kind moored a few yards away. These men must have just arrived in this place, wherever they were. "Oh, right. Uhh...we were below decks a lot?" he tried.

"He was sea-sick," Riku added, jabbing a thumb in Lea's direction.

"I see," replied the blonde, not seeming to notice the glare that Lea shot Riku. "Well, since we haven't met..." He offered Riku his hand. "I'm Captain John Smith."

"Riku, and this is Lea," Riku answered, shaking the captain's hand.

"Captain Smith!" another voice broke in. They turned to see the man who had given the speech earlier approaching. He was a wide-girthed man, wearing a bright purple hat and cape. For some reason Lea automatically disliked him, but he had to give him points for style.

"It appears I have selected the perfect location, eh?" said the man. "Not a savage in sight."

"Just because we don't seem them doesn't mean they're not out there, sir," Smith replied. Lea glanced back and forth between the two, wondering what they meant by "savages". Could they be referring to Heartless?

The man in purple scowled. "Well then perhaps you should venture forth and determine their whereabouts, hm?" He turned to Lea and Riku. "You two can join the others and get to work."

"Get to work?" Lea asked, not liking the sound of this.

"You men, unload the ship!" the man barked, pointing at groups standing nearby. "You men build the fort, and the rest of you, break out the shovels! It's time to start digging!"

"Digging?" Lea and Riku exclaimed simultaneously.

Never before had Lea been grateful to see a Heartless, but when they began appearing at that very moment he breathed a sigh of relief. "Actually, we'll just take care of these guys, if you don't mind," he smirked, summoning his Keyblade.

There weren't very many of the monsters, and they were only Shadows, so the fight didn't take long. At one point Lea heard the crack of a rifle, and looked over to see Smith reloading. All of the others had retreated back towards the ship to watch.

"Well, that's a creature I've certainly never seen before," Smith commented when the battle was over. "They must be native to this land."

"No, they're all over, unfortunately," Riku replied. He nodded toward Lea. "That's what we do, travel around and fight the Heartless."

"Then you're certainly more suited to exploring with me than staying here and digging," Smith said, shooting a look at the man in purple who was re-approaching. "Right, Governor?"

"Fine," the Governor answered with a dismissive wave. "All three of you go."

"If there are any Indians out there, I'll find them," Smith promised.

As they started off into the forest, Lea took a few steps in front of Riku and turned so that he was walking backwards. "I'm all for fighting more Heartless, but shouldn't we, you know, be getting out of here?" he asked quietly so Smith couldn't hear. "Now that we know that they're here? That was our mission, after all."

"Part of our mission," Riku corrected. "The other part is finding out who's responsible. These guys just got here," he said, nodding back towards the men at the shore. "They don't know anything, but maybe we'll meet somebody out here who does."

Lea fell back into step beside Riku. "Right. Gotcha."

"Also, when we are ready to leave, I have a feeling it will be a lot easier to make an exit when we're not around Mr. Governor," Riku added.

For the next while, they hiked through the forest, not seeing any signs of human or Heartless life. John Smith was thoroughly enthusiastic about exploring, and kept making exclamations over the landscape.

"I've been searching all of my life for a land like this one," he sighed, jumping up onto a rock and looking out over the path that they had just come up. "I couldn't design a wild or more challenging country."

Lea glanced around, not nearly as impressed as their companion. The forest reminded him a lot of Twilight Town, just outside the mansion. It was pretty enough, he supposed, but so far not the most fascinating world he had seen.

After a while they began to hear the sound of rushing water, and followed it to a large waterfall. "Beautiful," Smith breathed. "And perfect timing. Let's climb down and get a drink."

Cupping his hands, Lea sipped the cool water gratefully. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riku tense up, and turned to see what he was looking at.

"Behind us," Riku whispered. "Someone or something is up on that ledge."

Smith stretched his neck, trying to catch a glimpse without turning too far, but saw nothing. "Are you sure?" he whispered back.

Riku nodded. "Positive."

Lea was beginning to learn to trust Riku's instincts when it came to stuff like this. "Let's get behind the waterfall," he suggested. "Wait and see if anything shows up."

The other two nodded their agreement, and they quietly slipped around the rocks and behind the rushing water, where they could just barely make out the rocks and trees on the other side. After what seemed like ages, a figure leaped out onto a rock in the middle of the river and crouched down. It looked human, but through the water it was very hard to tell. Smith readied his rifle, and when the figure moved on to the next rock, he seized his opportunity and jumped out through the waterfall and onto the rocks. Riku and Lea were right behind him, Keyblades in hand.

The figure stood, and the three men froze in place. It was a woman, a beautiful woman at that, with long black hair that blew back off her shoulders. Smith lowered his rifle, and they all stared for a long moment, the young woman staring right back at them as if unafraid. Then Smith placed his weapon on the rock, and took a step down into the water towards the woman. She leaned back uncertainly, watching him with narrowed eyes. When he had taken a few more cautious steps in her direction, she bolted away, disappearing back into the woods as suddenly as she had come.

"No! Wait!" Smith called after her. "Please!" Grabbing his rifle off of the rock, he scrambled up onto the shore and took off after her. Lea started to follow him, but Riku tapped him on the arm.

"We've got bigger problems," he said, pointing across the clearing at the Heartless that had just appeared.

Sighing, Lea rolled his eyes. "What about finding out who's responsible? Don't you think we should ask her if she knows anything?"

Riku shook his head. "I highly doubt he even catches up with her, as fast as she was running. We'll have to find somebody a little more talkative once we're done here." He gave Lea a sidelong glance. "Besides, you just want to follow her because you can't resist a pretty face."

Lea smirked. "Hey, can you blame me? I've been stuck looking at your mug for the last day and a half."

That brought a laugh from Riku, something that Lea had noticed didn't happen very often. "Come on," Riku said. "Let's go kick some Heartless butt."

Running forward, Lea swung his Keyblade at the first Heartless he came to, a Dire Plant. It tried to spit a seed out at him, but he deflected it off of his weapon and back onto the Heartless, killing it instantly.

Next he turned his attention to the Wyvern that was flying overhead. Getting a running start, he sprang up into the air and slashed at the dragon-like creature. It flew up even higher as Lea landed back on the ground, so he pointed his Keyblade straight up at it and yelled, "Fire!" This seemed to anger it, and it began a corkscrew dive directly toward his head. Lea dove to the side to avoid the attack, then jumped back in and finished the Wyvern off before it could get away again.

Slashing and firing this way and that, Lea was completely caught up in his fight and paid no attention to Riku whatsoever. The Heartless kept coming strong for quite some time, leaving Lea out of breath when they were finally all gone. He dismissed his Keyblade and slumped over, resting his hands on his knees.

"Whew!" he exclaimed. "That was a workout." Straightening, he turned to where Riku should have been standing, but saw only the empty clearing. "Riku?" Lea looked back and forth, from the waterfall to the forest, confused. Riku seemed to have vanished.

"Hey Riku!" he called, walking over to the trees and peering between them. "What, are you hiding from me now?" Maybe he had seen some more Heartless and chased after them. Seemed strange that he wouldn't have said something first, though Lea couldn't be sure that he had just not heard him.

Lea checked behind the waterfall, just in case Riku was playing some out-of-character prank, and called his name again, louder than before. A dozen possibilities of what might have happened to him spun through his head, most of them not involving anything too sinister, but none of them really setting him at ease. In fact, the longer he stood there, the more the unease was growing, gnawing at his gut. He wasn't keen on the idea of taking on the unknown forest by himself, especially when there was a good possibility that Riku would show back up in this clearing sooner or later. But finally he could stand it no longer. Taking a deep breath, he plunged into the deepening shadows.


	17. Taken

The first thing that registered in Riku's mind as he began to wake up was a dull, throbbing pain in the back of his head. He groaned slightly without opening his eyes, and tried unsuccessfully to move his arms out of the uncomfortable position they were in. It was when he found they seemed to be stuck that an alarm finally went off in his brain. Other sensations began to flood in – the feeling of cold stone against his cheek; a damp, rancid smell; and something tightly squeezing his wrists and ankles.

Riku's eyes flew open, and all the pieces came together. He had been in the middle of a Heartless battle with Lea, when something had hit him hard on the back of the head and he had lost consciousness. Now he was lying on the floor of what was almost certainly a dungeon, with his wrists bound behind his back.

Struggling to sit up, Riku looked down at his ankles. Whatever was tying them was something he had never seen before. It looked like a black cord, but there were tell-tale wisps around it that clued Riku to its origin – darkness. He tried flexing his right hand, but whoever had done this had done a good job of it. The bonds were too tight, and his hand was at the wrong angle to be able to summon his Keyblade or cast any kind of magic.

Whoever had done this...that was a very good question. They had planned well, sneaking up on him during a battle so that he would be distracted. Still, even then he wasn't an easy person to take by surprise. Who would even want to take him? The Organization? He couldn't think of what purpose he would serve for them. If they had just wanted one less Keyblade wielder around, they could have killed him instead of going through the trouble of kidnapping him.

Riku took in his surroundings, looking for any clues of where he might be, but there wasn't much to see. The walls and floor were stone, with a few steps leading up to a landing with a barred wooden door. Near the steps was a large stone with a rusted ax embedded in the top. There were some chains attached to the wall next to him, but clearly his captors had thought better of using those on him.

Sighing, Riku gave up and leaned his back against the wall, wincing a little as the tender spot on his head touched the stone. He supposed he was just going to have to wait until whoever it was decided to show their face. Fortunately for his curiosity, he didn't have to wait very long. Within a few minutes, a dark corridor opened up on the landing. Riku tensed, watching the dark void carefully.

"Ah, good, you're awake," came a voice he knew all too well.

"Maleficent," he growled, narrowing his eyes as the black-robed witch entered the room. Her faithful companion, Pete, was right on her heels.

"Took 'im a while," Pete chortled. "Course I did hit 'im pretty hard."

Riku shot him a withering glare. How had he let a buffoon like Pete get the jump on him?

"So nice to have you with us again, child," Maleficent said, smiling wickedly.

"What do you want, Maleficent?" Riku spat. "You know I'm not going to fall for any of your lies again." Just seeing her ugly gray-green face was enough to make his stomach churn. As much as he blamed himself for everything that had happened a few years ago, he knew that none of it would have gone that way if it hadn't been for Maleficent toying with his ego and emotions. She was the reason that he had ended up being possessed by Ansem, and he could never forgive her for that.

"Still your usual defiant self, I see," Maleficent replied, clearly amused. "But don't worry, there will be none of that this time." She walked down the steps and stood directly in front of Riku, looking down at him menacingly. "I don't need you to play along anymore. There is still darkness inside of you, and all I have to do is bring it back to the surface. Then you will become just the tool I need to complete my plans."

"That's not going to work," Riku answered. "I've taken control of the darkness in me. It doesn't rule me anymore." Even as he spoke, his heart sped up. He hoped his words were true, but it seemed there was little that Maleficent couldn't do. He'd rather die than become her puppet again.

"I suppose we'll just have to see," Maleficent replied. She stretched out her staff as the green orb that topped it began to glow. A tightness gripped Riku's chest, causing his breath to catch in his throat. It then moved into his limbs, all the way down them and back up again, almost as if some unseen force was searching for something. Finally it crawled up his spine and entered his head. He could feel it tugging on the edge of his mind, trying to get in, wanting to pull him back into the darkness. Shutting his eyes, he fought to keep his thoughts on the here and now. The more it pulled, the harder he fought back. He would not let himself go to that dark place again, not if he could at all help it.

After what seemed like an eternity, Maleficent jerked back her staff with a groan of dismay. "Well, it seems I underestimated you," she said, regaining her composure. "You really do have your darkness under control. It's locked away so tightly that not even I can reach it."

Riku smirked at her, trying not to let it show how much that mind battle had worn him out. "Guess you won't be using me as your tool after all."

"No, I suppose I won't," Maleficent replied. "But don't let that excite you. I will find some use for you yet." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps the best idea would just be to get rid of you altogether. I can only imagine the devastating effect that would have on your precious friends. With Sora and the other so-called heroes consumed by their grief, I could finally put my plans in motion without interruption."

Riku shook his head in disgust. "You want to kill me? Go ahead. You think that'll break him?" He paused. "Well, maybe it will. Eventually. But first it will make him angry. You've never seen him angry, but I have. And you know what?" Riku shot a menacing glare at the witch. "I think anger may be just the fuel he needs to finally finish you off. So go ahead, kill me. I will gladly give my life in exchange for your destruction."

Maleficent laughed. "Such an impassioned speech. I never would have guessed that you would be so eager to die." She turned and walked back up the stairs to where Pete was still waiting. "You must have patience, though. I'm sure death can be arranged for you eventually, but first I will have to contemplate what other ways I might put you to good use." She stopped next to Pete and cleared her throat. "Don't you have business to be attending to, now that the Keyblade heroes are thoroughly distracted?"

"Me?" Pete answered. "Oh! Oh yeah, uh...yeah, I do."

"What kind of business?" Riku shouted after them, but they both disappeared into a dark corridor without another word. Leaning back against the wall again, he sighed heavily. He didn't know how long he had been out cold, but he was sure that Sora and the others were searching for him by now. He hoped they would be on their guard, and wouldn't get taken by surprise by Maleficent like he had. There was no telling what that witch was up to now, but whatever it was, it was bound to be dangerous for everyone.

He thought back to what she had told him, about killing him to distract Sora. While he had meant every word that he had said in reply, he really was worried about his friend and the effect that his death might have on him. Not that he thought that highly of himself, but he knew that Sora's connections to his friends ran deep, and losing one, especially one that he had known practically since birth, would devastate him.

Riku gave one more desperate pull at the cords, trying to ignore the pain that it caused his injured wrist. It was no use. As much as he hated it, there was nothing he could do now but wait for his fate to be decided.


	18. Missing

Sora and Kairi burst breathlessly through the door of Merlin's house late in the morning on the day they were all supposed to meet.

"Sorry we're late!" Sora exclaimed. He then spotted two new members of the group and broke into a huge grin. "Goofy! Donald!"

"Sora!" his two friends shouted at once, running across the room to greet him.

"It's so good to see you!" laughed Sora, his words muffled inside a three-way hug.

"Good to see you, too, Sora!" Donald replied.

"Garwsh, I think you've gotten taller," Goofy commented.

"Anyway, sorry we're late," Sora repeated, pulling back to look at the others in the room. "Our second world ran a little longer than we planned."

"There was a princess in need," Kairi explained. "And lots of hiking up and down mountains."

"And lots of Heartless," Sora added.

"Then Sora almost died..." Kairi continued.

"But Kairi saved me!" Sora exclaimed proudly.

Kairi beamed. "I can't wait to tell Riku that I used Cure and Thunder!" She looked around the room. "Where is he, anyway?"

"They haven't showed yet," Leon answered from his spot leaning against the wall.

"We were beginning to wonder where all of ya were," Mickey said. "But we're glad you're okay. I'm sure Riku and Lea just ran into some delays, too."

Sora and Kairi settled in and began to tell more details about their adventures over the last two days. Time passed, and by early afternoon there was still no sign of Riku and Lea.

"I wonder where they could be?" Sora wondered aloud, not for the first time. "I'm getting kinda worried. Maybe we should try to contact them."

Cid spun around on his stool to face the computer. "I just sent a transmission to their gummi ship a few minutes ago," he said. "So far, nothing. I'll let you know if I get a reply."

More time passed, quite slowly now. Merlin conjured up food for everyone, and they ate in relative silence. Every once in a while Sora and Kairi would exchange worried glances, but neither of them really had any thoughts on what to do. Sora knew that Riku and Lea could handle themselves, but it was strange for them to be this late and to not have answered the message, either.

When evening came, Sora jumped suddenly to his feet. "I'm going to look for them," he announced.

Kairi stood, too. "Sora, you can't!"

"We've got no idea where they were even going," Mickey said. "How would you even know where to start?"

Sora shook his head vigorously, clenching his fists. "I don't care," he argued. "Something's not right. They should have at least answered our message hours ago."

"Maybe they just lost track of time," Yuffie suggested without much conviction.

"They might not have made it back to their ship yet in order to see the message," Aerith offered.

"I agree that something's off," Leon put in. "But the King's right. There are an infinite number of places out there they could be."

"I've searched the worlds for Riku before, so I can do it again," Sora insisted. "It doesn't matter how long it takes me, I'll find them eventually. You all can stay here in case they do show up."

"I'm coming with you," Kairi said, stepping towards him.

Sora wanted to smile at her in thanks, but his worried mind would only let him give a nod. "Anybody else want to come?"

"Don't bother," said a new voice. "I'm here."

Everyone spun around to see Lea standing in the doorway. "Lea!" Sora and several others exclaimed with relief.

Sora noticed the unusually solemn expression on Lea's face. "But...where's Riku?" he asked, feeling uneasy once more.

Lea sighed, his eyes downcast. "I don't know," he answered quietly. "That's where I've been all day...looking for him."

"What do you mean?" Sora demanded.

Throwing his hands up in the air, Lea stepped further into the house. "We were in a new world that neither of us had ever been to before. Out in the middle of the woods, fighting Heartless. Then he was just...gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" Mickey queried.

"Just gone!" Lea repeated, exasperation in his voice. "One minute he was there, then when the Heartless were gone, he was, too. Vanished. No sign of him anywhere." He sighed. "I took off through the woods searching for him. Got myself thoroughly lost, but never saw another living soul. I finally found my way back to the gummi ship, and saw the message you sent, but I didn't know how to answer it. I barely even knew how to fly the ship to get back here."

The room went silent. Sora could hardly believe what he was hearing. How could Riku just vanish? Why was it that he always seemed to be missing?

"I don't understand," said Kairi finally. "Where could he have gone?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Lea replied. "It doesn't make sense for him to have just left without saying anything to me. Even if he had, I would have thought that he would have made his way back to the ship eventually, unless he got lost, like me."

"Do you think there was...some kind of foul play involved?" asked Mickey.

"I don't know," Lea shrugged. "I guess it makes more sense than him just leaving, but like I said, I never saw anyone else in that area. The people that we talked to initially were newcomers like we were, and they seemed pretty apprehensive of the locals. I don't know anything about the natives, personally, but maybe some of them took him. They would know the area well enough to be able to appear and disappear quickly."

"We have to go find him," Sora finally spoke again. "Kairi, are you still coming?"

"Of course," she agreed.

"I'll come, too!" Goofy volunteered.

"Me, too!" cried Donald.

"We'll all go," Mickey said. "The Restoration Committee can stay and be our home base."

Leon nodded. "We'll contact you if we hear or see anything."

"Okay," Sora said, his determination written on his face. "Lea, lead the way. Let's go find Riku."


	19. The Search Begins

"Wow, I've never seen so many trees in one place," Kairi commented as they climbed out of the gummi ship in Jamestown.

"Well, get used to it," Lea muttered. "You'll see little else the rest of the time we're here." He walked forward and peered through the trees as Kairi stooped down to pick up an object off the ground. It was small and brown, made of many layers of hard petals that formed a cone shape. Looking up, she saw many others growing on the branches of the spiny trees overhead. She didn't know exactly what it was, but for some reason it made her smile, so she put it in her pocket. It would make a nice addition to the collection she was starting of keepsakes to remind her of her visits to other worlds. So far she also had a flower from one of the coronation decorations in Arendelle, and a gold coin that she found in the fountain in front of Prince Adam's castle.

Lea let out a whistle, grabbing Kairi's attention. "They've certainly made progress since we first got here," he said. Kairi and the others looked in the direction of his gaze and saw a large wooden fort had been built in a clearing by the water.

"Should we go ask them if they've seen Riku?" Goofy suggested.

Putting out his hand, Lea stopped him from advancing. "I'd rather avoid those guys if we can. The guy in charge, the Governor, thought we were with them and was trying to put us to work. I don't really want to try to explain who we are and why we never returned. He seems like a really suspicious guy."

"You didn't meet anybody that could help us?" Sora asked.

"Well, there was one guy, John Smith," Lea answered. "He was reasonable enough, and he was with us not long before Riku disappeared. I don't know if we'll be able to find him without seeing everybody else, though."

"We trust your judgment," Kairi spoke up. "If you don't think we should talk to them, we won't." She looked to the others for approval.

"Right," Mickey agreed. "Let's just go lookin' for the natives ourselves. If we can't find 'em, then we'll come back and talk to this John fellow."

Kairi fell in step next to Sora and reached out to squeeze his hand. He squeezed back, but didn't say anything. He had been unusually quiet ever since they had left Radiant Garden. "I know you're worried about Riku," she whispered. "He's gonna be okay."

Sora nodded. "I know. I can't help worrying, though."

"I know," Kairi replied. Despite her encouraging words, she was worried, too. She had to keep believing that Riku had disappeared of his own free will, even if it made no sense. If she started thinking about the other possibilities, she might lose it.

After walking for quite a long time, they ended up in a clearing with a roaring waterfall. "Beautiful," Kairi breathed, feeling the mist on her skin.

"Alright, this is where we were when he vanished," Lea said without any emotion in his voice. "He was standing right over there...or at least, I thought he was."

Mickey walked to the spot where Lea had pointed and looked around at the ground for a moment. "Well, we're probably not going to find anything here. We should keep looking for wherever the natives might live."

Lea nodded in agreement. "I went that way last time," he said, pointing. "So why don't we go this way?"

"We could split up," Sora suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lea disagreed. "This place is too easy to get lost in."

"But we could find what we're looking for faster that way," Sora argued.

"The last time we split up, someone disappeared," Mickey pointed out. "We don't want to lose anyone else. Let's stick together."

Kairi heard Sora mutter something under his breath, but he didn't argue any further. They all began walking in the new direction, and she took a few quick steps to catch up with him. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked softly. "You don't seem like yourself."

Sora shook his head. "I'm fine," he answered curtly.

"No, you're not," Kairi replied. "You're upset."

"I just..." he paused, considering his answer. "I just feel like this wouldn't have happened if I had been with Riku instead of Lea," he said finally, his voice nearly a whisper.

Kairi looked at him in surprise. "You think this is Lea's fault?"

"Not his fault, exactly," Sora answered. "It just seems like this should have been preventable, if he had been with someone more...experienced."

"But Riku is plenty experienced himself, and it still happened to him," Kairi frowned. "Whatever...it...is."

"Sometimes even experienced wielders need help, though," Sora pressed. "And Riku didn't get it when he needed it."

Kairi sighed. She didn't know what to say to that. Sora and Lea were both her friends, so she didn't want to see them at odds with each other. Hopefully they would find Riku soon, and then all could be forgiven. Maybe it would even turn out to all be a big misunderstanding in the end.

They hadn't been walking for too much longer when they heard some voices in the distance. Mickey shushed everyone, and they stopped in their tracks to listen.

"Smith! Smith! Where are ya?" It sounded like two different men calling.

"Could they be lookin' for the Smith you mentioned?" Goofy asked Lea.

Lea shrugged. "Could be. If he's out here somewhere, maybe we'll run into him."

They continued walking through the dark forest, when suddenly Lea called out, "Hey Smith!"

Kairi stood up on her toes to see over Lea and Goofy's shoulders. A handsome blonde man and a beautiful black-haired woman were standing side by side underneath a tree with hanging branches. They looked startled, but then the man smiled broadly.

"Lea, is that you?" he called back. "I thought for a moment it was the other men coming back. We just scared them away."

"It's me," Lea replied. "With a few more friends," he added, gesturing to the group. "Speaking of which, it seems you caught up to our mysterious friend after all."

"Oh! Yes," Smith exclaimed, turning to the woman. "This is Pocahontas. She's one of the natives of this land."

Kairi felt Sora immediately tense up next to her. "So, the natives are friendly, then?" she asked quickly. She knew Sora had a tendency to blurt out exactly what was on his mind when he was emotional, and she didn't want him to say anything he might later regret in his desperation to find Riku.

"Well, yes, some are, at least," Smith answered, smiling at Pocahontas.

"My people do not trust the white men, just as you do not trust us," Pocahontas spoke up.

"We don't not trust you," Mickey disagreed. "We're not even with the others. We come from a different place entirely."

"I was getting that feeling," Smith replied. He glanced around the group. "Where is Riku, by the way? When you two never showed back up at camp I was worried."

"That's what we're trying to find out," Donald said.

"He disappeared right after you ran off," Lea explained with a sigh. "We were hoping you might have seen him."

"Or that someone else might have seen him," Sora broke in, looking pointedly at Pocahontas.

"I haven't seen him, I'm afraid," Smith answered. "Like I said, after I took off, I didn't know what had happened to the two of you." He turned to Pocahontas. "Do you think any of your people could have...taken him back to the village, maybe? Thinking he was one of us?"

Pocahontas shook her head. "No, there are no white men in the village. I have not heard of anyone seeing any white men other than at your settlement."

Sora sighed heavily, slumping over in defeat. Kairi felt her heart drop, as well. She hadn't really wanted that to have been the answer, but some answer would have been better than none. Now they were back to square one.

"Have you seen anything else suspicious? Any strangers in the area that neither of you know?" Mickey asked.

"Besides you?" Smith replied with a smile. "No, I haven't seen anyone but the other settlers and her."

"Neither have I," Pocahontas agreed.

"I saw someone," came another voice, sounding like it belonged to an elderly lady. Kairi and the others looked around in surprise.

"You saw someone, Grandmother Willow?" Pocahontas asked, not seeming at all surprised. To Kairi's amazement, she and Smith were both looking straight at the tree that they were standing next to.

"Yes," the voice replied. "Yesterday morning, I caught a glimpse of someone who did not belong."

Kairi and the others slowly moved around until they could see the other side of the tree trunk. There was clearly a face there in the bark, and it was smiling at them.

"Ah, now I can see all of you," she said. "What an interesting bunch you are."

"Is that a...talking tree?" Kairi whispered to Sora.

Sora shrugged. "I've seen stranger!"

"What, uh..." Lea began, obviously trying to get used to this new idea. "What did this someone look like?"

Grandmother Willow frowned. "I didn't get a very good look at them. All I could see was that they were tall, and they were wearing something long and black."

They all exchanged knowing glances. "Organization XIII?" Goofy asked, putting into words what everyone was thinking.

"But what would they want with Riku?" Sora questioned.

"Yeah, between me and Riku, I would have thought they would have taken me," Lea mused. "But there's no telling what Xemnas could have up his sleeve."

"Well, whatever their plans might be, chances are they're not here anymore," Mickey said.

"Which means we'd better get back to our ship," Sora agreed, already turning to leave.

"Thanks for your help," Lea called with a wave.

"Of course," answered Smith. "Good luck!"


	20. Forgiveness

"Things just got a lot more complicated," Sora muttered as the group marched solemnly back through the woods toward the gummi ship. "If the Organization has Riku, they're definitely planning something that's probably going to happen soon. Which means we're going to have to take them on again. We were supposed to find Aqua and the others first before we tried facing Xehanort."

"And we have no clue where they might be hiding out," Kairi added.

"Not at any of their old haunts," Lea put in without thinking. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some of the others glance his way questioningly. "I mean, I wouldn't think so, anyway," he said quickly, trying to cover up his blunder. "Knowing them, they would find somewhere new."

"You're probably right," Mickey agreed. "So where does that leave us?"

In the same place he had already been in, Lea thought. Not having any idea where to look next. When he had realized that they were going to be searching for the Organization, he had felt a mixture of emotions. Hope because he was finally going to have help on his quest, but fear of what they had planned, and dread of finally actually seeing them – and especially Isa – again. 

"Well, we can't just wait around for them to reveal their plan," said Sora.

"Your Majesty, when you spoke with Master Yen Sid, did he mention the Organization at all?" Kairi asked.

"Not much," Mickey replied. "Just to say that he hadn't heard anything in a while. Seems like they've been off the radar until now."

"Which seems strange if they really are planning something big," Lea commented, thinking out loud. "You know Xemnas...I mean Xehanort. Whatever his name is, he's all about the drama. I would have thought that one of them would have showed up by now to taunt us," he said sarcastically.

"That doesn't mean they're not planning something," Sora countered. "Obviously they must be if they took Riku."

Lea put his hands up defensively. "I wasn't saying they're not, I'm just saying their silence seems out of character." It had not escaped his attention that Sora had been either avoiding him or arguing with him constantly since he had showed back up in Radiant Garden. He was pretty sure the kid was mad at him, and Lea really couldn't blame him. He was mad at himself, too. Riku's disappearance was at least partially his fault.

"Well, I think our best bet right now is to head back to Radiant Garden," Mickey suggested. "We can send a message to the team there to let 'em know about the new development, and ask 'em to dig up anything they can find on the Organization's possible whereabouts."

Sora sighed. "Okay, I guess that's as good of a plan as any."

Between all of their memories, they managed to get back to the ship without getting lost. As they were about to board, Kairi turned and put her hands on Sora and Lea's shoulders. "Don't come in yet," she ordered. "You two need to talk."

Lea glanced at Sora, who seemed to be actively avoiding his gaze. "I don't..." he started to say, but Kairi cut him off.

"Uh-uh," she said, wagging her index finger. "No arguments. Just do it." With that, she turned and entered the gummi ship.

Lea and Sora stood there awkwardly for a long moment, not looking at each other or saying anything. Finally Lea swallowed his pride and turned to Sora. "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

Sora stammered a bit, obviously not wanting to admit it. "I don't know," he said quietly. "Maybe."

"It's perfectly okay if you are," Lea told him. "I understand. I'm pretty ticked at myself, too."

"Really?" Sora responded, sounding a bit surprised. "I mean...yeah, I guess I am mad at you, at least a little." He sighed. "I'm probably not being fair, because I wasn't there, so I don't know exactly how it all happened. But I just feel like..." He paused, thinking over his next words. "It feels like you weren't paying enough attention, and that you weren't there for him when he really needed you," he blurted.

Even though Lea felt exactly the same way, it still hurt a little to hear it spoken out loud by someone else. "Yeah, I know," he replied softly. "Believe me, I've been beating myself up about that very thing." He scratched the back of his head. "I guess I just thought that...well, it's Riku. He doesn't ever need help. Didn't think I had to keep an eye on him. But clearly I wasn't being a very good partner, and for that I'm sorry. Could I have prevented it if I had paid more attention?" He shrugged. "I don't know. But that doesn't change the fact that I should have at least seen what happened. If I had seen who had taken him, we could have saved a whole lot of time chasing dead ends."

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "But...I forgive you. I'm sorry I was mad at you. I just..." He clenched his fists by his sides, and his voice grew slightly hoarse with emotion. "Riku's my best friend. I can't lose him."

"I know," Lea said. "Boy, do I know. I've already lost enough friends. First Isa, then Roxas, and..." He halted mid-sentence. For a split second it had seemed like there was someone else, another aching hole in his heart. But the thought vanished as quickly as it had come, and he shook his head. "...And Riku and I were just getting to really know each other. I feel like everyone was just starting to trust me, and now I've broken that trust."

"I don't think that's true," Sora disagreed, motioning towards the gummi ship where the others were waiting. "They all seem like they still trust you to me, and..." He hesitated for just a moment before continuing. "And I trust, you, too," he finished with vigor.

Lea smiled. "Thanks, I really appreciate that," he answered genuinely. "I just hope Riku can forgive me, too, when we do find him. Because we are going to find him, okay?"

"Right," Sora nodded. "I know we are. And he'll forgive you, I'm sure of it."

"I'm glad Kairi forced us to have this talk," Lea said, clapping Sora on the back.

"Me, too," Sora smiled. He looked back toward the ship. "Now let's get out of here."

"Gladly," Lea agreed.


	21. A Faceless Foe

Riku wasn't sure how much time had passed since he had first woken up in the dungeon. With very little light filtering through the bars on the door, there was no concept of day or night, so the hours stretched on endlessly. He had turned himself around so that he could lean sideways against the wall, and was able to doze off a few times that way, though he usually woke with a kink in his neck. Other than that, he was left with nothing to do but think, mostly about Sora and the others, and what they might be doing now.

When a corridor of darkness suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs again, Riku expected Maleficent to walk out. Instead, the figure that entered was about the size of Sora, wearing a black and red suit with a black helmet that completely obscured his face. Riku eyed the newcomer suspiciously. Whoever he was, he reeked of darkness like no one Riku had ever met before, not even Xemnas.

"Well, how the mighty have fallen!" the boy jeered, cocking his head to the side. "I've heard so much about the almighty new Keyblade wielders. When I heard Maleficent had one of you here in the dungeon, I had to come see for myself." He came down the steps with a confident march and stooped down in front of Riku. "How does it feel to be thrown away like garbage, Keyblade Master?" he sneered.

"What are you, Maleficent's new lackey?" Riku asked dryly, ignoring the taunts.

The boy stood again and shrugged nonchalantly. "She brought me back, so I figured I might as well stick around for a while. At least until I can find my real master."

"Brought you back?" Riku repeated, confused.

He didn't respond, but instead in one swift movement summoned a weapon to his hand and sliced through the bonds on Riku's wrists. Despite the shock that this brought, Riku had his Keyblade in his own hand in an instant and had cut through the ankle cords and jumped to his feet.

"Who are you?" he demanded, holding Way to the Dawn straight out toward the boy, his arm trembling slightly. "And why do you have a Keyblade?"

"The name's Vanitas...and wouldn't you like to know?" he laughed, unfazed by the weapon pointed at his throat. Throwing out his hand behind him, he opened another corridor and turned to walk through it. "You coming?" he tossed back over his shoulder.

Riku hesitated as Vanitas disappeared, not knowing where this would lead him or what trap might lie beyond. But wherever and whatever it was, it couldn't be any worse than here. He had a better chance of escaping if he followed. Taking a deep breath, he plunged into the darkness. As he walked, he fished a potion out of his pants pocket. He didn't really have any wounds to heal, but he was hoping that it would give him a jolt of energy and stop the shaking in his arms and legs. If nothing else, it was at least a little bit of liquid on his dry lips and throat.

When he exited the corridor, he found himself in a large, circular room, made of the same stone as the dungeon walls and floor. Vanitas stood in the center of the room, swinging his Keyblade casually.

"Why did you let me out?" Riku questioned, keeping his distance.

"I told you, I've heard a lot about you and your friends," Vanitas answered, spitting the last word out as if it tasted bad in his mouth. "But I've known plenty of Keyblade wielders in my day, and I'm not sure I believe that you can live up to the hype." He stopped swinging the Keyblade suddenly and held it up by his head. "So prove yourself. I want to see what the newest Keyblade Master has to show for himself."

"And if I refuse to fight?" Riku asked, still not lifting his Keyblade.

Vanitas shrugged again. "I put you right back where you just came from."

Riku sighed. He was definitely not in a hurry to fight this guy, especially after however much time he had been with no food and little sleep. But if it meant possibly getting out of here, he had no choice. Without warning, he ran forward and leaped into the air, preparing to come down on Vanitas with a shock wave of darkness. When he landed, however, Vanitas seemed frozen in place, then he disappeared entirely. Before Riku could turn to look for him, he felt the Keyblade slice down his back and stumbled forward with a grunt of pain. Great, a teleporter. He hated teleporters.

Spinning around, he shot Dark Firaga at Vanitas. The blue flame hit its mark, but he immediately vanished again. Riku tried to turn in time to block the attack that he knew was coming, but Vanitas was already on the downswing and caught Riku's forehead with the tip of his blade before their weapons met. Shoving Vanitas away, Riku quickly swiped away the blood that was dripping down towards his eye before lunging forward, slashing rapidly. Vanitas blocked most of the swings, then jumped backwards across the room.

"Pathetic," he laughed, shooting an orb of fire from his Keyblade. The orb split into three parts which arched outward, then came directly toward Riku. He ducked and rolled to the side to avoid them, and they exploded harmlessly in the air. Jumping back to his feet, he shot Blizzaga back at his foe, but Vanitas dodged it easily.

Gritting his teeth angrily, Riku ran toward Vanitas, using the darkness to give him great speed. He caught the boy in black off guard, knocking him backwards. Vanitas struggled to regain his balance for a moment as Riku slashed at him with his Keyblade, but as soon as he did he cast a Stop spell and froze Riku where he stood. His right arm was in mid-swing, and his left was outstretched by his side. Riku tried his best to break through the spell, but it was no use. Not a single muscle would move.

Laughing, Vanitas strode toward him casually, obviously enjoying the moment. "Well, well. I have to say, a Keyblade Master who uses the darkness...that I did not expect. I thought all the 'good guys' were too afraid of the darkness to use its power." He circled Riku, who was waiting for the strike that he knew had to eventually come.

Vanitas stopped when he was in front of Riku once more, and pointed towards the brace on his left wrist. "You didn't think this was going to escape my notice, did you?" Reaching forward, he yanked it off and dangled it from between his fingers. "Poor Keyblade Master, fighting with a bum wrist." He dropped the brace on the ground. "Here, let me fix that for you." Raising his Keyblade, he struck Riku's wrist hard. Riku could feel the bones crunch, and he doubled over and cried out in pain as the spell ran out at that very moment.

Holding the now-useless hand to his stomach, Riku looked up just in time to see the Keyblade coming for him once more. He parried the blow and returned it with one of his own, even angrier now than before. "You're gonna pay for that," he growled. Vanitas just laughed in reply.

The two wielders were locked in a fierce exchange in the center of the room, trading and blocking blows back and forth with no end in sight. Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew through the room, and a voice boomed, "Enough!"

Riku and Vanitas both turned to see Maleficent standing above them on a ledge. Before he even knew what was happening, she pointed her staff and new dark cords flew toward him, wrapping around his wrists and wrenching them painfully behind his back once more. A second cord jerked his ankles together, causing him to tumble backwards to the floor.

"Vanitas," Maleficent began, clearly unhappy. "What do you think you are doing?"

"Just having a little fun," Vanitas shrugged, not seeming bothered by her anger.

"I do not want our guest harmed," Maleficent scolded him. "You are not to speak with him without my permission, and most especially not to move him or fight him."

"Your guest?" Riku said sarcastically. "If I'm your guest, then how about a little food, and some more comfortable quarters? The very least you could do is let me heal myself before you tie me up again." Not only was his wrist still extremely painful, his back was stinging from the wound it had received, and the cut above his eye was still dripping blood down the side of his face.

"That's enough from you," Maleficent answered, waving her staff again.

Riku's next words caught in his throat, and he swallowed hard, trying to figure out what had happened. "What did you do to me?" he attempted to say, but nothing came out. His whole mouth felt numb, and he couldn't seem to speak at all.

"There, that's better," Maleficent said, smiling slightly. "Now, you'll be happy to know that I've decided on a use for you. You see, King Mickey has something in Disney Castle that I want. I've tried to reason with him about it before, but a certain friend of yours got in my way. So this time I decided to send Pete in to look for it himself. All I needed was a bit of a distraction, in the form of Heartless, to get the King out of the way for a while."

So, she was the one who had been releasing Heartless on the worlds. The realization must have registered on Riku's face, because Maleficent smiled again. "Yes, that was all part of my plan, and it worked brilliantly. Except for the part where Pete has still not found what we are looking for," she sighed. "But that's where you come into play. You will be the perfect bargaining chip. When King Mickey and the others learn that your life is in danger, they will gladly hand over anything that I ask for."

Riku shook his head, scowling. Whatever it was she wanted, he was sure it was far more important to keep safe than he was. She was probably right, though. Knowing Sora and the King like he did, they most likely would choose him without even thinking about it, if they knew there was no other way around it.

"Yes, it's quite perfect," Maleficent continued. "This time the negotiations will take place on neutral turf, and there will be no surprise intrusions. It's only a matter of time before I have what I want." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I wouldn't get your hopes up, though, about me not killing you. That still is an option after all."

"I volunteer for that job," Vanitas sneered.

"All we have to do now is wait for your little friends to reach their next destination," Maleficent concluded. "Then we can make our entrance."


	22. Ultimatum

The ride back to Radiant Garden was a long one, with everyone lost in their own thoughts. Though he knew it would do no good, Sora's mind kept churning over what Organization XIII could have planned and what Riku could possibly have to do with it. He had to admit, Lea was right, something definitely did seem off about the whole thing. It was impossible to put his finger on just what it was, though, since they knew so little.

"Well, here we are," Donald announced as the ship landed just outside of town.

"Alright," said Mickey, sounding less chipper than usual. "Let's go see what Leon and the gang may have dug up for us."

They exited the ship and were about to head into town when the familiar sound of a dark corridor opening turned Sora's head. When he saw who was standing on the rock ledge several yards away, he jumped into a defensive position. "Maleficent!" he shouted.

"Yes, it is I," the witch replied. "Haven't you missed me?"

"Not a bit," Mickey countered. "What do ya want this time?"

"The same thing that I wanted before," Maleficent said. "The data for all the worlds. I know that you have it."

Mickey crossed his arms. "You just don't give up, do ya? Didn't ya learn your lesson last time you tried this?"

Sora was a bit confused by this exchange to start with, but then he remembered Mickey telling him what had happened. Maleficent had showed up in Disney Castle and attempted to hold Queen Minnie hostage, demanding the worlds data that she had learned about when they had fixed Jiminy's journal. Luckily, Lea had arrived just in time to help Minnie escape and foil Maleficent's plans.

"Ah, but this time is different," Maleficent answered. "This time I am better prepared, and this time you will give me the data."

"Oh yeah?" Sora exclaimed sarcastically.

"Allow me to show you the reason why," Maleficent said. Waving her hand, she summoned another dark corridor. A few seconds later, someone tumbled through onto the ground, looking like they had been pushed, and landed lying on their side.

There was a collective gasp from the group as they realized who this newcomer was. "Riku!" Sora cried. He started to rush forward, but Maleficent pointed her staff at him and held up her hand.

"Uh-uh-uh," she warned. Moving the staff toward Riku, she used the green sphere on the end to lift his chin. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she told Sora.

While Sora was overjoyed to see his friend alive, Riku didn't look well at all. Not only were his hands and feet bound, but there was a gash above his right eye that had left dried-up streaks of blood all down his face. His eyes seemed to be avoiding Sora's, but that didn't hide the exhaustion and misery in them.

"What did you do to him?" Sora demanded angrily. "You monster!" He felt a gentle grip on his arm and saw Goofy standing next to him out of the corner of his eye, keeping him from charging forward again.

Maleficent laughed. "What did I tell you? Now, if you ever want to see your precious friend alive again, you'll bring the data of all of the worlds to me here, at this time tomorrow."

Riku was making eye contact with Sora now, shaking his head. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out. Sora was pretty sure he could guess what it was that Riku was thinking, anyway – that they should forget him and keep the data safe. But there was no way that Sora was going to let his friend die.

"Fine," Mickey answered, defeat in his voice. "You win, Maleficent. Just please, don't hurt him anymore."

Laughing again, Maleficent opened up another corridor underneath Riku, and he vanished down into it. "Don't be late," she ordered, ignoring Mickey's plea. "And don't try any heroics. It won't work this time." She disappeared through her own corridor of darkness, leaving everyone in stunned silence.

After a long moment of staring at the spot where Riku had just been, Sora turned slowly toward the rest of the group. Mickey was also staring, lost in thought. Goofy and Donald were watching Sora with sympathetic expressions. Kairi had her face buried in Lea's arm, and he was patting her back awkwardly. When Sora reached out and gently touched her shoulder, she looked up, and her cheeks were streaked with tears.

"I couldn't...I couldn't keep watching him like that," she hiccuped. "This is awful!" Lunging toward Sora, she collapsed on his chest and began sobbing again. Sora wrapped his arms around her, feeling a bit like crying himself, but trying to hold it together for the sake of everyone else.

"Well, at least it isn't Organization XII...I guess that's a little bit of good news," Goofy offered.

Sora drew in a deep breath. "What do we do now?" he asked no one in particular.

"The only thing we can do," answered Mickey, breaking out of his reverie. "I'm gonna head back to the castle to get that data."

"But what about the worlds in the datascape?" Donald protested. "We can't just let her take them over, can we?"

Mickey shook his head. "Riku's safety has to come first. Once we've rescued him, then we can worry about the datascape."

"Maybe we should come with you," Sora suggested. Kairi stepped back and wiped her eyes, and Sora put his arm around her shoulder. "I'd feel better if we all stayed together," he continued. "Plus, I don't think we can trust Maleficent to hold up her end of the deal. She knows that you have to go to Disney Castle, right? What if she tried to ambush you somewhere along the way so she wouldn't have to hand Riku over?"

"Good point," Mickey agreed. "Alright, then, let's all go."

"I'm going to stay here," Lea spoke up. When Sora started to protest, he waved his hand to stop him. "I know, you want everybody together. But somebody should be here, just in case you all get held up somehow and she shows back up tomorrow before you get back. I could try to buy you some time."

"Well, okay then," Mickey sighed. "If anybody could manage that, it'd be you. But we'll be back in plenty of time, right fellas?"

"Right," said Sora with a nod. He squeezed Kairi's shoulder with his hand and looked down at her. "Is going to the castle okay with you?"

Kairi managed a small smile. "I have always wanted to meet Queen Minnie," she agreed softly.

"We'll let her know we're on our way once we get in the ship," said Mickey. "Lea, will you update the team here?"

Lea gave a salute. "On it."

"Okay. Let's go get that data!" Mickey exclaimed.

Everyone began to climb back on board the gummi ship, leaving only Lea behind, sending them off with a wave. Sora sighed deeply as the ship lifted off of the ground and headed towards the stars. "Hold on, Riku," he whispered. "We're coming."


	23. Disney Castle

Kairi woke with a start, gasping for breath. She had been trying to get a little sleep on one of the bunks in the back of the gummi ship, but had been interrupted by the nightmare once again. This time it was a little different, though. Riku had been there, too, in a cell right next to hers, so close that she could almost touch him when she stretched her arms through the bars. He had been all bloody, like he had been beaten up, and kept calling her name and pleading for help. But she couldn't reach him, no matter how hard she tried, and finally the darkness had come and pulled him away and swallowed him up.

Sighing heavily, Kairi swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. She made her way back to her seat in the front of the ship, trying to shake the anxiety that the dream had left behind. Sora looked at her quizzically as she approached.

"You weren't back there long," he noted. "Couldn't sleep?"

Kairi shook her head. "I had the dream again," she whispered. She left out the part about Riku being in it. She didn't want to make him more upset than she knew he already was.

Reaching out, Sora grabbed her hand and squeezed it sympathetically. He didn't say anything, though, probably realizing that she didn't want to discuss it with the others around. Kairi was grateful just for him being there with her.

"Where are we?" Kairi asked, changing the subject.

"I think we're getting pretty close," Sora answered. "Shouldn't be too much longer now."

"It must be the middle of the night," Kairi said, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Didn't anyone else want to sleep?"

"Goofy has been dozing off in his chair for a while now," Sora said with a slight smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if Donald has, too."

Overhearing this, Donald jerked his head up and looked back at them. "What? No I am not!" he protested in a sleepy voice.

Kairi giggled a little in spite of herself. "What about you, and the King?"

"I don't think I could sleep if I tried," Sora sighed. "I'd imagine Mickey feels the same way."

Kairi nodded in understanding. "You have to sleep some time, though. If we have to do any kind of fighting, you'll need to be rested."

"I know," Sora agreed. "It's just, every time I close my eyes, I see..." he trailed off, but Kairi had a feeling she knew exactly how the sentence was supposed to end. Now it was her turn to squeeze his hand.

"Hopefully everything will go smoothly, though, and we'll be in and out and on our way back with the data in no time," Sora continued. "I'll sleep when Riku's back safe and sound."

"We're approaching our destination," Mickey spoke up from the drivers seat. "Disney Castle is straight ahead."

"Home sweet home," Goofy said, waking up and stretching.

Kairi sat up straight in her chair to peer through the windshield as they landed. They were in a garage of sorts, and she could see two tiny figures outside, jumping up and down in excitement. As soon as the gummi ship door was opened, their high-pitched voices could be heard.

"Your Majesty! You're back!" one exclaimed.

"Hello, fellas," Mickey greeted them solemnly when everyone had climbed out of the ship.

"Kairi, this is Chip and Dale," Goofy explained. "They work on our gummi ships."

Bending over closer, Kairi smiled at what she could now see were two chipmunks. "Hello, there."

Chip and Dale waved, then turned back to Mickey. "Queen Minnie is waiting for you," said Chip. "She's in the library."

The castle was quiet as they made their way through the halls, and Kairi assumed it was because everyone was asleep. When they reached the library, however, Queen Minnie was looking perfectly alert and dressed impeccably in a pink ballgown and golden crown. Kairi couldn't help but smile when she saw her. The Queen looked just like she had imagined.

"Sorry to wake you so early," Mickey apologized, greeting Minnie with a kiss.

"Oh, that's alright," Minnie said. "I'm glad to get to see everyone for a moment, though I wish it was under better circumstances."

"It's good to see you again, Your Majesty," Sora told her.

"You, too," Minnie smiled. "And this must be Kairi!"

Kairi dropped a little curtsy. "Yes, Your Majesty. I'm so glad to meet you finally."

"Please, call me Minnie," she replied. "I'm glad to meet you, too."

"So, where is this data?" Sora asked, getting right to the point of their visit.

"This way," Mickey replied. He crossed the room to one of the huge bookshelves, and reached straight for a particular green book that didn't seem to stand out from any of the others. When he pulled it out, a section of the floor slid open, revealing a staircase leading down into what must have been a basement.

"After Maleficent showed up the first time wanting the data, we moved it to a more secure location," Mickey explained. "It's just right down these stairs."

Sora, Goofy, and Donald followed Mickey as he began the descent. Before Kairi reached the first step, however, she felt a gloved hand grasping her own. She looked down to see the Queen smiling up at her.

"Kairi, I wonder if you'd stay behind for a moment," Minnie said.

"Uh...sure," Kairi answered, a bit confused. They walked together to the long table in the center of the room and each took a seat.

"Pardon me if I'm intruding," Minnie began. "I know we just met, and I know you have plenty of friends with you. But something was telling me that you needed someone to talk to, perhaps someone a bit more on the outside...?"

Kairi drew in a deep breath. "Actually...yes." She hadn't realized that she had needed that until this very moment, but what Minnie said was true. "I...I don't really know what to say, but I do feel like I've been holding everything in ever since we left. Sora has so much on his mind right now, I don't want to force him to listen to me."

Minnie reached over and patted her hand. "Maybe you could just tell me a bit about Riku," she suggested.

Tears automatically sprang to Kairi's eyes, and she dashed them away with the back of her hand. "Riku and Sora have both been my best friends for practically forever," she said with a bit of a smile. "They were my first friends when I arrived on the Islands, and we've been inseparable ever since. I mean, they did both disappear for quite a while, when they were off fighting the Heartless. But I always knew they'd find their way back to me." She sighed. "I didn't find out until later on, after they were back, all of the dangers that they had faced while they were gone. I guess now I'm finally seeing first hand what that's like, and I'm not sure that I'm handling it very well. I already almost lost Sora a couple of days ago, and then seeing Riku like that..." Another tear escaped down her cheek. "They're always the strong ones, you know? Always trying to take care of me, and save the world at the same time. I'm not used to seeing them hurting."

"It sounds like you really care for them," Minnie said.

Kairi nodded. "I love them both," she agreed. "In different ways, of course," she added quickly. "I mean, Sora is my boyfriend, so obviously I don't feel exactly the same about Riku as I do Sora. But I still love him. He's like a brother to me."

"I understand," Minnie smiled. "You said that you don't feel like you're handling all of this very well, but I think you're much stronger than you realize. And I have a feeling that Riku will find his way back to you this time, too."

"Yeah," said Kairi, chewing her lower lip. "He just has to."

"Also, if Sora feels the same way about you as you do about him – which I'm certain that he does – he won't feel like he's being forced to listen to you," Minnie advised. "Talking about how you're feeling will help both of you, and strengthen your relationship, too."

"You're probably right," Kairi agreed. "Thank you, Your Majesty."

At that moment Mickey and the others reappeared at the top of the stairs. The King was carrying a small wooden box carefully in his hands. "Here it is," he announced quietly. "The data for the worlds is right in here."

"So all we have to do is hand over that box, and we can get Riku back," Kairi said, standing. It seemed so simple, though she knew it was anything but. She didn't understand the whole datascape thing very well, but from what she had heard there were worlds and lives of a sort being put at risk if Maleficent had a hold of the contents of that box. The King understood all of that better than any of them, so it had to be hard for him, making this decision.

"Yep," Mickey answered. "That's the plan."

"As long as Maleficent holds up her end of the deal," Donald put in.

"We'll make sure she does," Sora said firmly. He glanced up at a clock on the wall. "We should be going."

"Are you sure you can't stay for some breakfast?" asked Minnie.

Mickey shook his head. "Sorry, but no. We need to make sure that we're back in plenty of time to meet her."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Minnie nodded, walking back to the table and picking up a brown paper bag. "So I went to the kitchen before you got here and packed you some muffins that the chef made yesterday."

"Aw, thanks Minnie," Mickey smiled at her, taking the bag. "I'll be home as soon as I can, alright?"

"I know you will," Minnie replied. "Goodbye everyone, and good luck!"

As they all waved and said their thank yous and goodbyes, Kairi bent down and gave the Queen's hand a squeeze. "Thank you for the talk," she whispered.

"Of course," answered Minnie. "Come back and see us anytime, dear."

"Thanks, I'd like that," Kairi smiled.


	24. Memories

Lea walked quickly up the street to Merlin's house with his hands shoved into his pockets, keeping his gaze downward to avoid seeing the castle. The door was shut, so he pounded on it with the side of his fist three times.

After a few seconds, Yuffie swung it open with a smile. "Oh, hi Lea," she greeted him, sounding a little surprised. She looked out into the street as he came in past her, then shut the door slowly behind them. "Where are the others?"

"What is it with you showing up by yourself?" Cid broke in from his computer chair before Lea could answer. "Don't tell me you lost everyone else now, too!"

"Cid!" Aerith scolded him.

"It was just a joke," Cid waved her off. "Lighten up!"

Lea cleared his throat, trying not to show his annoyance. "There's been a change in plans. A change in...well, pretty much everything." He took a seat in a nearby chair and leaned his elbows onto his knees. "Turns out the Organization didn't have anything to do with this after all. It was Maleficent."

"Maleficent!" Yuffie exclaimed. "What is that old witch up to now?"

"She showed up right after we landed," Lea explained, pointing in the general direction of where the meeting had taken place. "Had Riku with her. She wants some kind of data that the King has, in exchange for Riku's life."

"That's awful," Aerith gasped.

"Yeah, it wasn't pretty," Lea sighed. "So anyway, everyone else took off to Mickey's castle to get the data. I offered to stay behind to update you guys, and to buy time with Maleficent if they didn't get back in time." Both of those reasons were genuine, but what he had not mentioned to anyone was a third, ulterior motive for staying in Radiant Garden. Though he had been slightly relieved that the Organization wasn't involved with this, he had also immediately seen his chance for getting some help finding them slipping quickly away. Since this group had been doing research on the Organization's whereabouts, he was hoping that he could get a little more information while he was here.

"Well, we've been trying to find anything we could on Organization XIII since we got your message," Leon said. "But now I guess we'll turn our efforts to finding Maleficent instead." He nodded to Cid, who spun around and began tapping away on the keyboard.

"Just out of curiosity, did you find much of anything on the Organization?" Lea asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant.

"Not a lot," Leon answered. "Seems like they've been keeping to themselves since Sora and Riku last encountered them."

"I would think that they'd have to get out sometime, though," Lea pressed, not willing to give up quite yet. "You'd think that someone somewhere would have seen them."

"There were a couple of rumors," Yuffie remarked. "People reporting that they saw a person in a black hood. Nothing we could confirm, though."

"Where?" Lea asked a little too eagerly, sitting up straight.

"Uhh..." Yuffie picked up a piece of paper off of the computer desk and began to read. "Twilight Town, Agrabah, and some place called Corona."

Lea leaned back in his chair, thinking. He had been to Twilight Town already with no luck, but maybe he should pay it another visit. He made note of the other two names as well. They could at least be a jumping off point for his search to continue.

"Why all of this interest when they're not even involved?" Leon questioned.

Looking back up at him, Lea could see the suspicion on Leon's face. "Just curious," he replied quickly. When Leon didn't seem convinced, he added, "They may not be involved now, but we all know that they will be sooner or later. It would be nice to be able to find out where they are and what they're up to before they strike again."

That answer seemed to satisfy Leon. "Well, that's all we could find for now. We'll do our best to figure out where Maleficent may be hiding out."

"In the meantime, what can we do for you?" Aerith asked Lea. "Do you need some food, or a place to lie down and rest?"

What he needed was something to get his mind off of the Organization. He knew he should be focused on Riku and Maleficent, but thinking about that wasn't much better since there was nothing he could currently do. Now that he had some clues about the Organization, however vague they were, he was itching to get out there and look some more. The temptation to just go ahead and leave now was strong, but he had promised his friends he would stay and watch for Maleficent, and he couldn't let them down.

"I think I'm gonna take a walk," he blurted, jumping to his feet. Lea didn't know where the thought had come from. Up until now he had been avoiding seeing the rest of his hometown, but right now he had to do something. He couldn't just sit around and wait, or he'd go crazy. "I'll grab a bite to eat in town."

For a while Lea continued to keep his head down while he walked, not paying much attention to where his feet were leading him. Eventually, though, he couldn't help but begin to look around. It seemed like every square inch of this place had some sort of memory tied to it. Most of them were good ones, of days spent with Isa, racing up and down the streets and generally causing a ruckus wherever they went. Lea saw the corner under a street lamp where he had kissed his first girlfriend, and the park bench right next to it where he had broken up with his last one. In the center of the town he had a sudden recollection of some kid that he had challenged to a sparring match with those stupid frisbees he used to carry around before he got his chakrams. Whoever the kid was, he had kicked Lea's butt, and Isa had teased him about it mercilessly. That was the day they had tried sneaking into the castle for the first time, though certainly not the last.

He stopped by the ice cream shop, where he and Isa had first discovered sea salt ice cream, and was surprised to see that old Scrooge was still running it. The duck didn't recognize Lea, but he hadn't expected him to. After all, he was quite a bit older than he had been the last time he had stepped foot here.

Biting into the salty-sweet bar, he continued his meandering, through the nicer neighborhoods with their impeccably kept houses, including the one that Isa grew up in. They had spent quite a bit of time in that house, under the watchful eye of Isa's mom. Lea kept wandering until he found himself in what still seemed to be the poorer section of town, standing across the street from an all-too-familiar building that seemed even more dilapidated than it had in his childhood. Inside the building, up two flights of stairs on the right, was apartment 3B, where he and his dad used to live. Lea could still see it in his minds eye, even though he had spent as little time there as possible.

The door to the apartment building opened suddenly, and Lea ducked behind a lamp post, half expecting his dad to be the one walking out. Like he had told Kairi, he didn't even know whether the man was still alive, but if he was, he still wasn't ready to see him yet. They had never been particularly close, and when Lea's mom died his dad had become too distracted by work and alcohol to pay much attention to his son. They had spent most of Lea's teenage years busying themselves anywhere but at home, only stopping at the apartment to sleep, and that not always at the same time.

Licking the last drops of ice cream off of the wooden stick, Lea took one last glance back at the apartments before walking back the way he had come. Maybe one day he would venture back this way. For now, it was getting late, and there was no telling what tomorrow was going to bring, so it was time to get some rest. Today's excursion had stirred up quite enough tumultuous feelings for one day, anyway.


	25. The Trade-Off

Riku desperately wanted to punch something. Preferably someone, actually, though at this point he would have a hard time choosing between Maleficent and Vanitas. None of that was an option, unfortunately, so he had to satisfy himself with yelling and giving the wall a good kick. A mistake, he quickly realized, since that simple move drained what little strength he currently had in him.

He hated feeling so helpless. Riku had always prided himself on being physically and emotionally strong, able to take care of himself no matter what the situation. Yet somehow he kept finding himself in situations that took away that ability – first with Ansem, now with Maleficent. As he had been sitting here over the last few days he had gone over every possible scenario he could think of to get himself out of here. He had even managed to get to his feet and hop over to the stone with the ax in it, and try to cut the cords on his wrists. But either the ax was too dull, or it just wouldn't cut through cords made of dark magic. With that idea having failed, Riku was left back at square one, with no way out and nothing to do but sit and think.

The first meeting with Sora and the others had been painful in more ways than one. In fact, Riku couldn't really decide what had hurt the worst – the physical pain from his injuries when Vanitas had practically thrown him through the corridor, the blow to his pride from being paraded in front of everyone like he was Maleficent's wounded pet, or the stab to his heart at seeing the horror and fear in his friends' expressions. The look on Sora's face, in particular, was going to be ingrained into his memory for a while, as well as the sight of Kairi hiding her face and weeping.

Riku sighed heavily, wondering what time it was. The twenty-four hour mark had to be getting close. He supposed that should excite him, since this next meeting was supposed to end in freedom for him, but he couldn't shake a bad feeling about how the exchange was going to go.

Before he could consider that thought any further, a dark corridor opened, and Maleficent, Pete, and Vanitas appeared. "Are you ready, child?" Maleficent asked him. "The time has come to meet your friends again."

"We're not going to let you get away with this, you know," Riku replied. "You can try to disappear with your precious data, but my friends and I will hunt you down and stop you."

Maleficent smiled condescendingly. "I'm sure you will try your best," she said. "But I'd watch that tongue of yours, unless you want me to silence it again. Come, Pete," she ordered, turning to open another corridor. "It's time to go."

After the two of them had walked through and the corridor had closed, Riku glared up at Vanitas. "I suppose you're here to shove me through again?"

"I wish," Vanitas laughed. "That was definitely fun. But no, Maleficent says she wants me to bring you in person this time."

Riku furrowed his brow. "For what purpose?"

"Beats me," Vanitas shrugged. "She doesn't tell me all of her glorious plans, and I don't ask. Even if I did know, do you think I'd tell you?"

"You do seem to like the sound of your own voice," Riku remarked sarcastically. Glancing at the spot where Maleficent had disappeared, he sighed. The anticipation of her summoning them was enough to make his heart start beating double time. "Anyway," he continued, turning back to Vanitas to get his mind off of it. "I'd honestly rather know about you. You never did tell me who you actually are."

Vanitas smirked. "What makes you think I'm anyone of any importance to you?"

"You have a Keyblade, for starters," Riku replied. "And I have a knack for sensing darkness in others. There's more in you than I've ever seen in anyone before."

Laughing, Vanitas stretched his arms over his head casually. "Yeah, there's a reason for that." He jabbed a thumb toward his chest. "No light in here. I am one hundred percent darkness, and proud of it."

"How is that even possible?" Riku began, but he was interrupted by the sudden burst of a dark corridor opening in front of them.

"Well, there's our cue," Vanitas said, reaching forward and yanking Riku up by his forearm. His Keyblade appeared in his other hand, and he held it out in full view. "I do have permission to cut your ankle cords so that you can walk through this time," he explained. "But I also have permission to use this to stop you if you try anything funny. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," Riku replied as Vanitas sliced through the bonds. He wasn't going to admit out loud that he didn't have the strength to try anything, anyway. It did feel good to be able to move his legs around again, though he was a bit unsteady on his feet as they began to walk and had to use Vanitas for support much more than he would have liked.

The bright sunlight on the other side of the corridor was blinding at first, after being in the dark of the dungeon for so long. Riku blinked rapidly until his eyes adjusted and he was able to see all of his friends standing on the ground below them, watching him intently. He knew he must look pathetic to them, but he attempted a small smile for reassurance.

"Who is that?" Sora asked, pointing toward Vanitas.

"Only a follower of mine, and none of your concern," Maleficent replied. "Now, you've shown me your piece of the trade, and I've shown you mine. We both brought what we promised, so hand over the data." She motioned Pete forward to accept the data, which Riku assumed must be in the box that Mickey was holding.

"Hang on just a second," Mickey countered. "I'm not just gonna hand it over while you've still got Riku. Let him go, and we'll make the exchange at the same time."

Maleficent waved her hand in disapproval. "You're in no position to be making demands! You'll do as I say and hand it over now, or he disappears!" she screeched.

"Okay! Okay," Mickey answered quickly, beginning to walk forward. "Here ya go. It's yours."

The feeling of dread in Riku's gut was growing by the second. He didn't know what was going to happen, but something was telling him that it would not be good. "I wouldn't trust her, Your Majesty..." he tried to call out, but as soon as he began to speak Maleficent waved her staff at him without even looking, and he choked on his words again. He could hear Vanitas snickering beneath his mask, and wished he could give him a swift elbow to the ribs to shut him up. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sora and Kairi giving him confused looks, but he was too ashamed to face them.

Pete had made his way down off of the ledge, and he and Mickey were coming slowly towards one another. Finally they met, and Mickey reluctantly held out the box in his hands. Pete snatched it away and quickly began to retreat, peeking inside as he went.

"You know what to do with that," Maleficent told him, opening a corridor for him to take his exit.

Riku could tell that none of the others were liking the way this was going any more than he was. Sora definitely looked like he wanted to chase after Pete, but stayed in his spot and glanced around at the others with a worried frown on his face instead.

"Alright, you have your data, now release Riku like you promised," Mickey demanded.

Maleficent began to laugh, and Riku cringed inwardly. Here it came, the part where everything was going to go wrong. "You poor, simple fools," she crowed. "I never promised that I would release your precious Riku. I only promised that you would see him alive again." She lifted his chin with the end of her staff again, a move which he absolutely loathed. "And here he is, alive," she cooed.

Riku could see the realization dawning on the faces of his friends, and Mickey, Sora, and Lea began to rush forward towards the ledge, shouting things that he couldn't hear past the pounding of his own heart.

"I've kept my end of the bargain," Maleficent insisted, removing the staff from his chin. "Now he is of no further use to me." With that, she snapped her fingers, and in one sudden movement Vanitas lifted his Keyblade and plunged it through Riku's chest. Dropping forward onto his knees with a gasp, Riku tried to focus through the blackness that was quickly closing in on his vision and find his friends again. He could hear screaming, but that was beginning to fade, too. Blood was in his mouth, and he couldn't seem to catch his breath, but after what seemed like an eternity, he caught a glimpse of Sora, still running toward him with a look on his face that broke Riku's heart. Then he felt himself falling again, sinking into darkness, until everything went black.


	26. Aftermath

The ground seemed to be spinning madly underneath Sora. He thought he was still running, but his whole body was numb, and he really couldn't tell if he was even on his feet anymore. Somewhere behind him, someone was screaming and crying, or maybe that was him screaming, he didn't know. His mind was certainly screaming, trying to insist that no, that didn't happen, that couldn't have happened, because if it had, that meant Riku was dead, and Riku couldn't be dead.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, Sora tore his eyes away from the spot where Riku had disappeared and looked up to see Goofy standing above him. He still couldn't seem to make the rest of his body move, though, and his gaze kept being pulled back to that place again, the scene replaying in his head over and over. That awful, horrifying moment that would haunt his memories forever.

But Riku couldn't be dead. Could he? Riku had been lost to Sora on more than one occasion, but he always came back. He would come back again this time, too, right? He had to. Somehow, someway, he had to come back. This couldn't be real. It had to be some kind of trick.

Finally, Sora came back to his senses enough to look around him and find everyone else. The King was standing off by himself, staring into the distance, with Donald not far behind him, watching. Behind Sora, Kairi had collapsed onto the ground and was sobbing into her knees. Lea was sitting close by, looking down at the dirt with a blank stare.

Kairi. He had to get to Kairi, she needed him. Sora rose shakily to his feet, aided by Goofy, and stumbled over to her. Taking a seat behind her with his legs on either side, he wrapped his arms tightly around her stomach and laid his head on her back. Her whole body was convulsing with sobs, and before Sora knew it, tears were running down his face, too.

"Riku!" he whimpered. "Why, why?"

Memories began to play like a movie in his mind. The first time that he and Riku had discovered the secret place on the play island, and had carved their names into the stone walls. Sparring matches in the sand with their little wooden swords, which Riku mostly won, long before they had a clue they would one day both be fighting with real weapons. The day that Riku had started school, and Sora had cried because he wasn't old enough yet and had to wait all day to play with his best friend. Meeting Kairi for the first time, and all the time that he and Riku had spent trying to play detective and figure out where she had come from. Dinners at Kairi's house, sleepovers at Sora's house, and walks home from school with stops at the park to swing and slide. The silly raft that the three of them had built, thinking they were going to explore other worlds. The first time that he had actually had to fight Riku, and the moment that he had finally found him again after searching dozens of worlds and fearing that he had lost him forever.

Now he really had lost him forever, and Sora didn't know how he was supposed to go on from here. Riku had always been there, for as long as he could remember, so he really couldn't imagine what a life without him was supposed to look like. He felt like there was a hole in his heart, an emptiness where Riku was meant to be.

Sora didn't know how much time passed while they all sat in shock. Eventually, Mickey broke the silence, though he still didn't turn around.

"I failed him," he said softly. "He was trusting me to make it right, and I failed him."

Raising his head, Sora wiped his face with his arm and looked at the King with a frown. "It's not your fault," he countered. "You just did what you thought was best. We all did."

"We all failed him," Donald put in. "We should have paid more attention, and seen this coming."

Sora's chin dropped to his chest in shame. It was true, if they had been paying more attention to exactly what Maleficent had said, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Maybe Riku would still be alive.

Just then, the sound of running footsteps caught their attention, and they all jerked their heads around to see Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie approaching. The three of them slowed and looked around the scene in front of them, seeming to try to piece together what was going on.

After a moment Aerith gasped. "Oh, no!" she breathed. "Don't tell me..."

"When you didn't return right away, we were afraid something had gone wrong," Leon explained. "What happened?"

"Riku, is he...?" Aerith asked softly.

"He's gone," Mickey finished. "Maleficent took the data, and then she killed him."

Yuffie clasped her hands over her mouth, and Leon shook his head sadly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "I'm sorry we weren't here," he said. "We should have come with you."

"There's nothin' you coulda done," Goofy replied. "It all happened too fast."

"Why would she take him with her, though?" Lea broke in. "I mean, could this just be some kind of trick? If he's really dead, why not leave him behind?"

"I don't think it was a trick, Lea," Mickey answered quietly. "She probably just didn't want to let us have closure by giving him a proper burial."

Kairi had finally calmed a few minutes earlier, but now she started shaking again. Shutting his eyes, Sora squeezed her even tighter than before. As he held her, his grief began to turn to anger, bubbling deep inside but growing bigger and stronger by the second. Finally he could stand it no longer, and he jumped to his feet, his fists clenched by his sides.

"We're sitting around blaming ourselves, but the only real culprit here is Maleficent," he shouted. "She's the one who killed him. She has to pay."

Lea stood, also. "You're right. We've gotta find her."

"Revenge is a dangerous path to take," Aerith cautioned. "Maybe you should give yourselves a little more time."

"We can't," Mickey shook his head. "Dangerous or not, we've got to act now. Maleficent has the data, and I'd bet she's already trying to use it. She needs to be stopped." 

Leon nodded. "Okay. Let's head back to Merlin's house and see if Cid has been able to dig anything up yet."

Leaning over, Sora placed his hand gently on Kairi's back. She looked up, her eyes all puffy and red, and took his offered hand. He pulled her to her feet, and she leaned on him for support as they all began to make their way back to town.


	27. A New Search

Kairi couldn't seem to stop crying. Just when she thought she had spent all of her tears, someone would say something, or she would have a random memory of Riku that would start them all over again. She couldn't believe he was really gone. This all seemed like one of her nightmares, but hard as she tried she couldn't make herself wake up from it.

They were back at Merlin's house, and Kairi was sitting in a chair in the most isolated corner she could find, tears still slipping silently down her cheeks as she listened to Mickey explain to Cid and Merlin what had happened. She would be glad when they could stop retelling the story. It was enough that she couldn't stop seeing that moment in her mind over and over as it was. Hopefully this would be the last time they would have to explain it for a while, at least until they got back home. Kairi's hand flew to her mouth suddenly as she choked back a sob. The realization had just hit her of everyone they would have to tell on the Islands, especially Riku's mom. They may not have had the best relationship, but Riku was all that she had had left. This was going to devastate her.

"Well, Maleficent seems to be even more of a ghost than the Organization," Cid was saying. "Which means that I haven't really found anything so far."

"What about Pete?" Goofy asked. "Have you looked for him?"

Cid nodded. "Yeah, I have. I did find out from someone at Disney Castle that he may have been spotted there a few days ago."

"Pete was at the castle?" Mickey cried. "Why didn't anyone say something to me about it?"

"Apparently they weren't sure whether it was actually him or not," Cid explained. "They didn't get a good look."

"If it was him, I wonder if he was looking for the data," Sora mused. "Maybe that was before they decided to..." He trailed off, unable to finish that thought.

"What about the other guy, the boy in the black mask?" Lea asked. "We should expand our search to include him, too."

"He had a Keyblade," Sora put in eagerly. "It was gunmetal, with red accents, and had blue eyes on it. Surely somebody somewhere knows who he is."

Cid began typing again. "I'll look for him, too. But in the meantime, I'm afraid I don't have anything else to give you."

"Well we can't just sit around and wait," Sora protested. "Last we heard, Maleficent was wanting to make The Castle That Never Was her base. Shouldn't we just assume that she's still there?"

"But that's in the realm of darkness!" Donald exclaimed. "We can't just take off and go to the realm of darkness."

"We went there before to find the Organization," Sora countered. "Why is this any different?"

"She's not there, anyway," Lea interrupted. All eyes turned to him, waiting for an explanation.

"How do you know?" Sora demanded.

Lea sighed and turned his gaze to a blank wall. "There's no one there but Heartless. They've completely taken over the place. I know because...I was just there not long ago."

There was a series of gasps and murmurs that rippled across the room. "Lea, what were you thinking?" Mickey exclaimed. "Going to the dark realm on your own? That's dangerous!"

"I know, I know!" Lea said, putting his hands up in defense. "And yes, I used a dark corridor to get there, too! I know, I'm an idiot. Go ahead and tell me."

Sighing, Mickey shook his head. "We'll talk about this later. We don't have time right now. At least you did get us some useful information, and we know that we don't need to go to the dark realm to look for Maleficent."

"They probably couldn't handle being so close to the darkness there," Leon noted. "The Heartless would be much harder for them to control."

"Right, so where does that leave us?" asked Mickey. "What other places might she able to use as a fortress?"

"You can cross Castle Oblivion off the list," Lea commented. "I was there, too, and it seems to be empty."

Sora shot him a look, obviously confused as to what Lea had been up to. "What about the castle here?" he suggested. "She's used it before. Or have you already checked it, too?" he asked Lea, a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

Based on what she had seen on their first visit to Radiant Garden, Kairi already knew the answer to that question before Lea spoke. "No," he said with an almost imperceptible shudder. "I haven't been there."

"Okay," Mickey nodded. "It's probably a long shot, but we're right here so we might as well check it out."

Sora turned and walked a few steps toward Kairi. "Are you coming?" he asked softly.

Nodding, Kairi stood and wiped off her face with the back of her hand. Her eyes were so swollen that she could hardly see, but she knew she needed to get up and do something. Maybe going with them would take her mind off of Riku for a few minutes.

As they exited the house and began walking down the cobblestone streets toward the castle, Kairi dropped back from the rest of the group to walk next to Lea, who was lagging behind. "Are you gonna be okay?" she whispered. "You know you don't have to come if you don't want to."

Lea shook his head. "If Maleficent does happen to be here, I'm not letting the rest of you fight her alone." He gave Kairi a slight smile. "I'll be fine. Thanks."

The main gate of the castle was chained shut, so they wandered around the outside walls for a while, looking for an alternate entrance. "Here," Lea spoke up, taking the lead. "There's a window over here that never used to lock properly. If we're lucky, it still doesn't."

Everyone watched him with growing curiosity as he jiggled the window until it slid open. "How did you know about that?" Sora asked him.

Lea grinned sheepishly. "Trying to sneak into the castle was a game of ours," he explained. "Isa and I tried over and over again to get in without getting caught, but we always failed." His smile faded, and he looked down at the ground. "That stupid game is what did us in," he frowned.

Kairi wondered for a moment if he was going to change his mind about going in, but he shook it off and gestured toward the open window. "Shall we?" he asked.

One by one they crawled through the window, finding themselves in an empty, dusty room. From there they roamed through more empty rooms and long, dark hallways, always on the alert, but feeling less with each passing minute like they would actually encounter anyone.

Eventually they found their way to a large, open room that was instantly familiar to both Kairi and Sora. On one wall was a large, heart-shaped opening, and there were large glass cases lining the side walls. "This is where..." Kairi began, looking around in amazement.

"Where I freed your heart," Sora finished. "After fighting Riku...well, Ansem in Riku's body."

Kairi nodded. She might not have been awake for most of what had happened here, but she remembered very clearly waking up just in time to see Sora fall, and the onslaught of Heartless that had followed. "Doesn't look like anyone has been here in a while, though," she said, swiping her finger through a layer of dust on one of the pipes that flanked the stairs.

"This was Maleficent's main base of operations before," Sora noted.

"Doesn't necessarily mean she's not here," Mickey remarked. "She could have just moved to a different part of the castle, to be less obvious." He turned to Lea. "Any other areas we should know about? Something a little more hidden, maybe?"

Lea hesitated a moment before answering. "There's a basement," he said, almost reluctantly. "Not much down there but what used to be a laboratory, and a...a dungeon. It's where Xehanort and his apprentices conducted their experiments with the Heartless."

"It's worth checking out," Mickey replied. "Lead the way."

They followed Lea through a short series of hallways until they reached the top of a staircase leading down into the depths of the castle. Lea stopped abruptly and gestured towards the stairs. "This is it," he announced. "Feel free to go down and look. I'm...I'm staying here."

The others gave him quizzical looks, but began to march down the stairs without saying anything. Kairi stepped over next to Lea, her hands clasped together behind her back. She could tell that something was really bothering him about this particular spot, and felt bad for him. "I'll stay behind, too," she said. "Just yell if you need us."

When everyone else had disappeared from sight and earshot, Lea turned to Kairi. "You didn't have to stay, you know. I can take care of myself."

"I know," Kairi replied. "But you don't always have to."

Lea cocked his head to the side, looking surprised by her answer. He smiled a little and scratched the back of his head, but didn't say anything else.

"Is that where it happened?" Kairi asked gently, nodding towards the staircase.

Lea sighed heavily. "Yeah." Kairi didn't really expect him to say anything else, so she was surprised when he continued after another minute. "We were way too old to be pulling stupid stunts like that anymore," he began. "It was my idea. Getting into trouble was always my idea. I don't know why Isa always went along with it." His smile was sad, and he seemed lost in thought for a moment. "We decided to try sneaking in again, and of course, they caught us again. What we didn't know was that things had changed in here, and Xemnas had taken over. Instead of just kicking us out, they threw us in the dungeon." He paused again, and Kairi could tell that whatever came next was going to be hard for him to say.

When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse with emotion. "They used us as experiments, to learn more about the heart and how it can succumb to darkness. They tortured Isa for days, and I just had to sit in the cell next to him and listen. I couldn't do anything to stop them." He stopped and cleared his throat, then took a deep breath before continuing. "After they finally took his heart, I just assumed he was gone. I didn't know anything about Nobodies at the time. They left me in there for...I don't know how long. I always thought they would come back eventually and do the same thing to me, but I found out later that my part of the experiment had to do with the mental and emotional side of things, not physical." He shook his head, sounding disgusted. "Anyway, they eventually extracted my heart, too, and...I guess the rest is history."

Kairi could hardly believe what she had just heard. She had never really given much thought to how the members of Organization XIII had become Nobodies, but she had kind of assumed that it was done willingly. She never would have guessed that torture and murder were involved. "I'm so sorry, Lea," she breathed. "I never knew."

Taking another deep breath, Lea gave a short laugh. "Well, I've never told anyone before, so..." He waved his hand dismissively, obviously trying to get his emotions back in check. "I'm here now, so that's what counts, right?"

There was one thing that Kairi was still curious about. "How could you work for them, though? After everything they did to you?"

Lea shrugged. "Once they took my heart, I didn't care. I had no feelings in order to hold it against them." He thought for a moment. "I guess that's why I'm having a hard time now. It's the first time I've had a chance to deal with any of it."

Kairi smiled sympathetically at him. "Well, I'm glad you told me. Usually talking about something like that helps."

"Yeah," Lea nodded slowly. "I think it just might."

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Kairi looked down to see the rest of the group reappearing. "Nothing," Sora announced, sounding a little disappointed. "I guess we can officially say that Maleficent didn't come back here."

"Alright, well we might as well head back to Merlin's," Mickey sighed. "We'll decide what to do next from there."

* * *

 **AN: I'm gonna do a little bit of self promotion here. ;) If Lea's story interested you, try checking my other short fic, "See You In The Next Life"! What he told here is basically a summary of that story.**


	28. An Idea

As the group marched silently back through town to Merlin's house, Lea was surprised at how much lighter he felt. Yes, he was still upset about Riku, and the last couple of hours had been rough ones for his emotions, but finally sharing his story with Kairi had really lifted a burden off of his chest. He still wasn't really sure why he had done it. Maybe her earnestness and sympathy had just gotten to him. He felt like there was something else, though, something to do with what Riku had said a few days ago. Riku had wanted him to talk about it, to do something he apparently couldn't and open up to his friends. In a way, Lea felt like by telling Kairi, he was honoring Riku. He just wished that Riku had been able to get to that same point for himself before it was too late.

"No luck, I assume?" Leon greeted them at the door.

"Nope, there's nobody there," Sora replied glumly, flopping into an armchair.

"Any luck here?" Mickey asked.

"I was able to get in touch with Master Yen Sid," Leon said. "Unfortunately he doesn't know anything about Maleficent, but he did recognize the description of the boy in the mask and his Keyblade. He said that there was someone many many years ago that looked like that, and his name was Vanitas."

"Vanitas!" Mickey cried. "I knew something seemed familiar. I've been so distracted with Riku that I didn't pay enough attention."

"Wait, you know him?" Sora exclaimed.

"Well, not really, no," Mickey answered. "But I did meet him. And Yen Sid is right, it was a very long time ago. We all assumed he was dead."

"Who is he?" Lea asked.

Mickey shook his head. "It's a long story. He's connected very closely to Ven, the one that we've been looking for, but unlike Ven, he's full of darkness."

"So, we know who he is. Does that actually tell us anything?" Kairi questioned.

"Unfortunately, not really," Mickey replied. "Vanitas was Xehanort's apprentice when I met him, but now it seems he's hanging out with Maleficent."

"You don't think Maleficent and the Organization are working together, do you?" asked Yuffie.

"No, Maleficent doesn't work with anybody," Sora shook his head. "She has minions, not allies."

"Same with Xemnas," said Lea. "I don't see those two egos getting along."

"So, I guess that means we're back to square one," Goofy commented.

Sora sighed. "Yeah. Anybody else have any ideas of where to look?"

The room fell silent. Lea racked his brain, trying to think of any other castles or fortresses he had encountered in his travels, but nothing seemed like a likely answer. If only he knew a little more about Maleficent herself, and what places she might be drawn to.

"Hey, where is Maleficent from originally?" he piped up after a minute. "Like, what is her home world?"

Cid turned to look at the computer screen. "Says here some place called Enchanted Dominion. It fell to darkness, but of course it should be restored now."

"Did she have a fortress there?" Lea pressed.

Punching a few keys, Cid muttered under his breath slightly as he looked for the answer. "Uhh...yeah, looks like it. We've got records of Keyblade wielders being there in the past."

"Do you think she'd go back there?" Sora asked, sitting up straight in his chair.

Lea shrugged. "Possibly, if she couldn't find anywhere better to go."

"Maybe she was only looking for a different place because hers had disappeared," Kairi suggested.

"It's definitely worth taking a look," Mickey decided. "Send us the coordinates to the gummi ship."

As everyone rose and began filing back out the door, Lea studied Sora carefully. Something was telling him that he needed to talk to Sora again, this time about his visit to the realm of darkness. Sora had not been acting openly angry, like before, but it seemed like he had been avoiding Lea ever since the cat had been let out of the bag. Maybe it was just grief, but he needed to be sure.

Stepping outside, Lea grabbed Sora's arm and pulled him over to the side. "Hey, are you...mad at me, again?" he asked quietly.

Sora looked confused. "No, I'm not mad at you. Why would you ask?"

Lea breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, I didn't know after the whole...realm of darkness...thing. Seemed like you might be mad."

"Oh." Sora scratched the side of his head with his finger, and Lea wondered if he was going to change his mind about being angry after all. "I'm not mad," he said finally. "Just...worried. I don't like it when my friends put themselves in danger."

"Didn't know you cared so much," Lea replied, his voice sarcastic but the sentiment true.

"Of course I do," Sora exclaimed. "We're friends, aren't we? I care about all of my friends."

Lea hesitated, taken aback. Sure, they were friends, he guessed. He felt like he was still getting to know them, but he did like all of them. They had just all known each other for so long that sometimes he felt like a bit of an outsider. But Sora was making it sound like he counted Lea as one of the gang, which was both surprising and pleasing.

"Yeah, of course we're friends," he finally answered. "If you're wondering, I was looking for the Organization...for Isa," he added, feeling like he owed at least that much of an explanation.

"I figured," Sora replied.

That surprised Lea, too. He didn't think anyone had been paying enough attention to him to know how he felt about finding them. "Oh," he said, unsure of what else to say.

"I know how important Isa is to you," Sora said earnestly. "He was your best friend. I would have done the same thing if I had thought it would help me get Riku back." He faltered, and stopped to compose himself before continuing. "I just wish you would have told us what you were doing. You know we would have gone with you."

Lea smiled. "Yeah," he answered softly. "I'm starting to realize that." It was true, Isa was important to him. That wasn't going to change. But it seemed that maybe in his determination to find that friend, he had been overlooking just what type of friends he had now, right here in front of him.

"We'll find him," Sora finished. "I promise."

"Thanks, Sora," Lea responded. "I appreciate it."

Sora nodded down the street, where the others had vanished a few moments before. "Guess we'd better go catch up," he suggested.

"Yeah," Lea agreed. "Let's go find that witch."


	29. Life or Death

Riku woke with a groan. He wasn't sure how he was awake, and he wondered for a second if he was actually dead after all. But surely being dead wasn't this painful. Prying open his eyes, he could just barely make out the now-familiar stone walls of the dungeon through his blurred vision. Definitely not dead, then. At least not yet.

Struggling to draw in a breath, he used his feet to force himself off of his stomach and onto his right side. Every single move and breath was some of the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. As long as he was alive, though, there was still some slight hope. If only he could somehow get to his Keyblade so he could heal himself. But he had tried everything already.

Or had he? Riku felt a twinge of pain from his wrist as he twisted in his bonds, and it triggered an idea. Not an idea that he liked, but maybe it was better than dying. Sure, he had told Maleficent that he was ready to die for the cause, and he still was, if that's what it took. But his friends reactions to seeing him get stabbed were stuck in his mind, and he knew that if he at all could, he had to find his way back to them. He couldn't put them through that kind of pain.

His mind made up, Riku spit some blood out onto the floor, then began to turn his left arm, gritting his teeth against the pain. Thanks to Vanitas, the bones in his wrist were quite loose, and he was hoping that he could somehow manipulate them in a way that he could slip right out of the cords. It was going to hurt, but if it worked, it would be worth it.

At first he tried to work gently, wiggling his left hand against his right a little at a time, back and forth. But he could feel himself fading again, and knew that he didn't have much time left. With the amount of blood that was still pouring out of his chest, he really didn't know how he had lasted this long. He was just going to have to go for it. Shutting his eyes and gulping in one more shaky breath, he yanked up against the cord as hard as he could. He screamed involuntarily as the wrist crunched through the small space, then passed out once more.

When he woke again, Riku was amazed once again to still be alive. His brain felt foggier now than before, though, and it took him a moment to realize that he had succeeded. His left hand was free of the hated cords. Rolling over onto his back for the first time in days, he struggled to pull his right hand out from underneath him. The cord was still wrapped around this wrist, but when he opened his hand, Way to the Dawn appeared. Riku had never been so happy to see his Keyblade in his life. It wasn't going to do him any good, though, unless he could lift it and perform a Cure spell, and he really wasn't sure right now if that was possible. Both of his arms felt completely limp, and there was no way that his left hand was going to be able to help the right out any.

Tightening his grip around the hilt, Riku closed his eyes and thought about Sora and Kairi. Somehow he had to do this, for them. He willed his arm to move, and after a moment, it did. Slowly and shakily he lifted the heavy Keyblade into the air. His breaths were becoming more rapid and shallow, and he could feel his mind trying to shut down. Finally the Keyblade was pointing straight at the ceiling, and just before he lost consciousness, he hoarsely whispered, "Heal!"

Life flooded back into his body, and he jerked back awake with a gasp. Dropping the Keyblade back by his side, Riku continued to lie on the ground for a few minutes, taking deep breaths and evaluating his body. Everything still hurt, but he felt like he could breathe again, and his mind was alert. The spell had just been a Cure, not something stronger like a Curaga, which took more strength. Magic was a fickle thing, and didn't like to allow you to cast multiple spells in a row, but maybe after he recharged a bit he would be able to heal himself some more.

For now, he pushed himself slowly to a sitting position and looked around. There was a large blood stain on the floor where he had been lying on his stomach earlier. Glancing down his shirt at his chest, he saw that the wound seemed to have closed up partially. That was probably going to leave another scar to add to his collection, he thought with a grimace.

Reaching up and taking a hold of the chain on the wall, he pulled himself to his feet. He immediately felt light headed, however, and had to slide back down the wall to the ground. Probably best to wait until he was feeling a little better before getting too adventurous. He was itching to get out that door, but there was no telling what would await him out there. He hadn't gone through all of this just to get killed as soon as he escaped the dungeon because he had rushed himself.

After another minute or two of rest, Riku felt like he could manage another spell, and lifted the Keyblade for another Cure. This time some of the pain eased, and he felt like he could probably walk with no problem. Standing again, he made his way toward the door and peeked through the bars. There was nothing to see on the other side but more stone and other doors similar to this one. Stepping back, he pointed the Keyblade at the door and shot out a stream of light. The door swung open with a creak, and Riku began to walk through the rest of the dungeon toward what he hoped was the main part of the castle.

After climbing a long set of stairs, the hall finally opened up into a large room, different than the one he had been in before. This one had a staircase on his left, leading up to a large balcony that hung over the entire side of the room that he was standing on. The balcony was supported by three massive columns. Like the rest of this place seemed to be, everything was made of stone and completely empty.

Unfortunately, the emptiness didn't last long. As Riku stood in the doorway, catching his breath, a door on the far side of the room opened and Vanitas walked through. The boy stopped short when he saw Riku, then began to laugh.

"Bravo, Keyblade Master," he exclaimed. "I have to hand it to you, you're more resilient than I ever would have given you credit for." He shook his head. "I don't know how you did it, but I'll admit, I'm impressed."

Riku scowled and took a few steps toward the center of the room, Keyblade still in his hand. "I have you to thank," he replied sarcastically. "If you hadn't broken my wrist, I never would have been able to escape."

"The old lady sent me down to make sure you were really dead, and to dispose of your body," Vanitas told him, ignoring Riku's remark. "Guess it's a good thing I came when I did." He, too, walked closer to the center of the room.

"I bet you enjoyed that, didn't you?" Riku asked. "Killing me, I mean. Or at least trying."

Vanitas laughed. "Yeah, I did." He flicked his wrist and his Keyblade appeared. "But I'm going to enjoy this time even more. It's more fun when you fight back."

The two wielders ran for each other at the same time, Keyblades at the ready. Their weapons clashed mid-air, then again, lower, as Vanitas tried to knock Riku's feet out from under him. Riku jabbed his elbow into Vanitas' helmet, causing him to stumble back a few steps. But he was quick to recover, and immediately sent a beam of dark energy straight at Riku. Rolling away just in time, Riku found himself already having a hard time catching his breath. Every movement felt like it might rip his chest wound back open.

He fired Blizzaga, which Vanitas neatly dodged, then Fira, which hit its mark. Magic was kinder on his body, but he could only do so much of it at once. Blocking a spell from Vanitas with his Keyblade, he ran back in close for more hand to hand combat. The clanging of their blades echoed loudly through the stone room as they fought relentlessly. Riku was tiring out, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep going.

Then suddenly, Vanitas froze, and Riku's weakened mind couldn't remember to begin with what that meant. When the image vanished, it was too late, and Vanitas was already behind him, slashing across his back. That was all it took to push Riku's body to its limit. He stumbled forward and fell to the ground, just barely catching himself with his right hand.

When he didn't get up, Vanitas began to circle him, gloating. "How did you ever think you were going to defeat me like this?" he laughed. "You're pathetic. You might as well have just stayed in your cell and saved yourself the trouble."

Riku turned over to a seated position against one of the columns, unable to gather the strength to get back on his feet. "Just do it," he mumbled. "Get it over with."

"Oh, I will," Vanitas said. "But I like to be able to enjoy the moment. Gotta decide how I want to do it, anyway. I've already stabbed you. Maybe this time I'll finish you off with some nice dark energy."

He stood back and pointed his Keyblade, and Riku shut his eyes and waited. But when he heard the sound of a spell being fired, nothing hit him. Opening his eyes again, he saw Vanitas looking up at the balcony that was over Riku's head.

"Sora, what are you doing?" came an echoing voice that Riku recognized at once.

"Vanitas is down there!" Sora's voice exclaimed. "Get him!"

A sudden barrage of Fire, Blizzards, and Aero rained down on Vanitas from the balcony, along with a couple of flaming chakrams. In spite of how he felt, Riku couldn't help but grin. There were his friends, swooping in to save the day again. As much as he normally hated having to get help with things that he had deemed his own problem, this was one time where he would gladly let them finish his job for him.


	30. Reunion

Sora and the others didn't let up on their magic for quite some time. Vanitas tried his best to dodge and block all of the incoming attacks, and managed to fire back a couple of his own. But he was no match for the six of them, and he soon began to fade into darkness.

"I'll be back!" he shouted just before vanishing. "You haven't seen the last of me!"

A few of his friends cheered and high fived, but Sora remained grim. Maybe Vanitas would be back, but personally he hoped that he wouldn't have to see him for a very long time. He could never forgive him for what he had done to Riku.

"What do you think he was doing down here?" Sora asked as they all started down the long, curved staircase. "He almost looked like he was about to use his Keyblade on something when I first spotted him."

Finally they rounded the corner, and everyone froze in place. There, across the room, was the last thing any of them had ever expected to see. It was Riku, sitting with his back against a stone pillar, looking terrible but very much alive.

"Hey guys," Riku greeted them, waving slightly.

The smile that spread across Sora's face was almost too big to fit on it. A million thoughts flooded through his mind, but the one shouting above them all was simply, "Riku! Riku's alive!"

There were screams and exclamations of joy from everyone in the group as they began racing over to see him. Then suddenly, Sora had one terrible thought that made him stop short and hold out his hands. "Wait a second!" he yelled. The rest of the group slowed to a stop and looked at him quizzically. "What if this is a trap?" he asked. "What if it's like, a hologram or something?"

Riku laughed. "I'm not a hologram, you dork."

Sora's face lit up with a grin once more. That was the real Riku, alright. "It is you!" He rushed forward and practically tackled Riku, not noticing the grimace on his friend's face when he did so. There were a hundred questions being asked, Kairi was soaking Riku's shoulder with her tears of happiness, and Sora didn't even mind that he was getting blood all over his own jacket by hugging Riku repeatedly.

Eventually someone must have bumped Riku in just the right way, because he gasped in pain. Sora and Kairi both jerked back and looked at him with concern.

"You're still hurt," Mickey exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry Riku!" Sora cried, jumping to his feet and preparing to summon his Keyblade. "Here, let me take care of it."

"No, no! Let me!" Kairi interrupted. Riku looked at her in surprise as she shooed Sora away and took a hold of her Keyblade. "Riku!" she shouted, hoisting Destiny's Embrace over her head. The spell unfolded around him perfectly.

"I'm impressed," Riku smiled at her. "When did you learn that?"

"A couple of days ago, when Sora almost died," she replied with a shy shrug.

Riku shot Sora a look, but Sora just grinned proudly in return. "She can do Thunder, too!" he announced.

Kairi sat back down next to Riku. "I was so excited to tell you," she said. "But then I thought I was never going to get to."

"I know," Riku answered solemnly. "I'm sorry that you all had to go through this."

"Don't worry about what we went through," Mickey replied. "We're just glad that you're actually alive!"

"How are you actually alive, anyway?" Lea asked.

"It's a long story," sighed Riku. "One that we don't have time for right now. We still have to find Maleficent."

"You're right," agreed Mickey. "But are you sure you're up for that?"

"I'm fine," Riku assured him, pushing himself to his feet. "One more Cure should do the trick." He cast the spell, then held out his hands to them. "See, good as new!" he smiled.

Sora grabbed him from the side and squeezed again. He felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest with joy. What had been the worst two days of his life had finally taken a complete turn around, and everything was just like it should be again. "I'm just so happy you're back!" he exclaimed.

Riku laughed and tousled his friend's spiky hair. "Me, too, bud. Me, too."

"So, you wouldn't happen to know your way around this place, would you?" Lea asked.

"No," Riku shook his head. "I spent the whole time in the dungeon." Sora felt another twinge of sadness as he thought of everything Riku must have been through. "That's through that door," Riku continued, pointing behind them.

"Well, we just came from up there, and we didn't see any sign of Maleficent," Donald noted, gesturing toward the balcony.

"I suggest we go through the door where Vanitas came in," Riku said.

"Sounds like a good plan to me," Mickey agreed.

"So, how did you guys find me?" Riku asked as they began to walk.

"Well, to be honest, we weren't actually looking for you anymore," Sora commented.

"We thought you were dead," Goofy put in.

"Right," Sora continued. "Finding you was just a happy accident. But anyway, looking here for Maleficent was all Lea's idea." Lea just shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged sheepishly.

"What is this place, anyway?" Riku questioned.

"It's her old fortress, from back before she tried the whole taking over all the worlds thing the first time around," Lea answered.

They walked down the hall in silence for a few minutes, poking their heads periodically into rooms that branched off, but seeing no one. After a while, Lea spoke up again, his voice low so that only Riku and Sora – who was not about to leave Riku's side – could hear. "Listen, I want you to know, I feel really bad about what happened," he said. "You know, about you getting kidnapped while we were on mission together."

Riku waved his hand dismissively. "I don't hold that against you. It's not your job to keep an eye on me."

"Well, yeah, it kinda is," Lea argued. "You're the one who tells us during training to always watch our partner's back. You're not exempt from being watched out for just because you're a Keyblade Master."

"No, I guess not," Riku replied with a slight laugh. "Guess I just have a hard time admitting I need help sometimes."

"Or all the time!" Sora piped in, earning him a shove from Riku.

"Anyway, regardless of that," Riku continued, "What happened wasn't your fault. Somehow even I didn't realize Pete was there, so I wouldn't have expected you to notice."

"Whoa, it was Pete who got you?" Sora exclaimed, not bothering to hide his amusement. Riku, who always seemed to know what was coming, had let a bumbling idiot like Pete sneak up on him. Sora was definitely going to have some fun teasing him about that one.

Riku rolled his eyes. "Yes, it was," he groaned. "I should have left that part out."

"Yep, you should have!" Sora laughed.

"Hey guys!" Kairi called from up ahead in a hushed voice, pointing toward the room they were approaching. "I think I hear something in here."

Gathering outside the door, everyone silently summoned their weapons and made ready to charge in.


	31. Attack!

Lea kicked in the door and everyone rushed inside. Glancing around the room, Kairi quickly spotted Maleficent and Pete standing next to a large computer set-up, which was glaringly out of place in the medieval castle.

"Stop right there, Maleficent!" Mickey ordered. "We're not gonna let ya do this."

Maleficent turned to them and laughed. "Fools!" she exclaimed. "You can't stop me, I've already won!"

"Have you, though?" Riku asked, pushing through to the front of the group.

Narrowing her eyes at him, Maleficent tapped her staff on the ground in frustration. "You," she growled. "Apparently that boy cannot be trusted to do such a simple thing as kill a prisoner." She waved her hand dismissively. "No matter. You and your friends still won't keep me from taking over the data worlds."

Riku shook his head. "You didn't win with me, and you're not going to win with the data, either."

"You might as well surrender now," Sora put in.

"Never!" Maleficent cried. With a puff of smoke, she summoned a hoard of Heartless between the heroes and the computer. Kairi gasped at the sheer number of them, but swallowed hard and reminded herself of all the friends she had fighting on her side. With everyone working together, surely they could take this on with no problem.

Just before they began the fight, Kairi turned to Sora and gave him a peck on the cheek. "For luck," she smiled.

Sora looked at her for a moment without saying anything, then leaned in and pressed his lips hard against hers, his free hand sliding around to her lower back. Kairi's knees felt weak, and when he pulled away the room was spinning slightly for a moment. "Be careful," he whispered.

Kairi nodded, trying to pull herself back together after that unexpected kiss. "You, too," she said.

Soldiers were first, more menacing than Shadows but still not too difficult to take out. Kairi turned from one to the next, jumping back away from their slashing claws before lunging in for a combination of hits that sent a pink heart flying up towards the ceiling. Out of the corner of her eye she could see other hearts floating away all around the room, as her companions took out their own opponents. Something black was in the air, also, coming straight towards her. She swung her Keyblade around in a wide arc and made contact with the Darkball. Recovering, it leaped back toward her, baring its teeth, but Kairi slashed at it again and it vanished.

So far this fight had not been too bad, but she didn't want to get overly confident. Especially since her next enemy was going to be a Large Body. At the moment it wasn't paying attention to her, so she slid around behind it and started slicing into its back. It didn't take long before the Heartless leaped up and spun around to face her, waving its arms angrily. One of the huge fists hit Kairi's midsection and she fell backwards to the ground with an, "Oof!"

For a few seconds Kairi felt like all the air had been knocked out of her lungs, but she didn't have time to sit and recover. The Large Body began to charge forward, and would have trampled her if she hadn't rolled out of the way just in time. The good news was, now she was behind it again, so she scrambled to her feet and began hacking at its back. After a few more strokes, it too released a heart and disappeared.

With all seven of them fighting together, the number of Heartless dwindled rapidly. As Kairi finished off the last few, her mind began to turn to what would happen next. She had never fought anything other than Heartless before, much less a powerful sorceress like Maleficent. All along she had known that this moment would come, but now that it was here, she had to admit she was a bit scared. She didn't know if she was ready for this type of combat. She had always done well in training, but that had been cut short, and being up against a real live enemy was completely different than sparring with Lea and Riku.

"Are you going to fight us yourself, or keep letting the Heartless do your dirty work, you coward?" Sora called out to Maleficent.

Turning back away from the computer to face them, Maleficent scoffed. "I am no coward, I simply have more important things to do than deal with intruders." She began to walk slowly toward them. "But if it's a fight that you want, then a fight you shall have."

Lifting her staff, Maleficent began to chant, "Meteors of heaven, unleash thy fury!"

Kairi's eyes widened in shock as giant blue orbs of fire started raining down from the ceiling. "Watch out!" she heard one of the boys yell. Leaping to the side to avoid one of the meteors that was headed right for her head, Kairi landed back on the floor and rolled. Across the room, she could see Riku and Sora both making their way towards Maleficent, dodging the flames as they went. Just before they reached her, however, she pounded her staff onto the ground and sent out a ring of green fire, driving them back.

Kairi jumped back to her feet and began running towards her, too, but now there were bolts of lightning slicing through the air, striking the ground and shaking it. One struck right in front of Kairi, sending her reeling backwards. The electricity made the hairs on her arms stand up. She glanced back up at Maleficent, and saw that Sora and Riku had made it to her and were attacking with their Keyblades, though Maleficent was defending herself with her staff and more lightning. She couldn't possibly last long, though, not being so outnumbered. Mickey was joining them now, and Maleficent was falling back, unable to keep her ground. Kairi smiled. Maybe she hadn't been too much help in this battle, but as long as Maleficent was defeated, that was what was important.

Suddenly a giant burst of magic radiated out from the witch, throwing the three attackers backwards and nearly knocking Kairi over, as well. Frowning, she watched as Maleficent stretched her arms out over her head with a shout, then began growing in size and distorting her shape. Kairi gulped, readying Destiny's Embrace again. She had nearly forgotten that Maleficent had a dragon form. Looked like her help might be needed in this fight still, after all.


	32. Battle with a Dragon

"Uhh, guys? Somebody wanna tell me what's going on here?" No one seemed to be listening to Lea as they watched Maleficent contort grotesquely into some new creature. Finally it became clear that she was turning into a giant dragon, complete with green flames erupting from her nostrils. Lea rolled his eyes. "Great. You guys could have warned me that she was a shape-shifter."

Everyone fell back and regrouped. "We've gotta work as a team," Riku shouted over the roaring. "Lea, Kairi, you take the back legs. Mickey, Donald, take the front. Sora and I will take the head, but Goofy, we'll need you to help get us up there." There were nods and exclamations of agreement all around, and Riku and Sora fist bumped before taking off to their respective positions. Lea nodded to Kairi as they took their places in the rear, careful to avoid the dragon's powerful tail.

On a signal from Riku, they charged in and began hacking away at the scaly back legs. They really didn't seem to be doing any damage, but it was distracting Maleficent enough that Riku and Sora were both able to launch themselves off of Goofy's shield and up onto her back. The dragon began to gallop away from them, and Lea tried to follow, but was cut off by a thorny vine shooting across his path. He skidded to a stop with the thorns mere inches from his face and glanced around in surprise. The vines were beginning to grow all around the room, a product of Maleficent's magic, he assumed.

"Um...help?" a small voice called from somewhere behind him. Spinning around, Lea looked for the source of the cry. Finally he spotted Kairi, seemingly trapped in a cage of thorns. He ran to her, looking over the vines to assess the situation.

"They came out of nowhere," Kairi explained, sounding embarrassed by her predicament. "Before I knew what was happening they were all around me, and now I can't move my Keyblade to get rid of them."

"You're okay," Lea reassured her. "Just hang on." He began chopping at the vines up above Kairi's head, not wanting to accidentally hit her when they broke, but they were thick and it was slow going. He glanced back over his shoulder at the dragon, and saw that Sora and Riku had made it up onto the head and were attacking with all of their might. Another vine zoomed by, and he ducked quickly to avoid it.

"Alright, um..." Lea took a step back, getting frustrated with how long this process was taking. "We're gonna try something different." Pointing his Keyblade at the same spot that he had been working on, he shot a Fire spell which succeeded in burning all the way through the tangle of vines. Then he dismissed his weapon and grabbed onto them with his bare hands, trying to avoid the thorns, and began yanking them away from Kairi. As soon as her arms were free to move, she joined him, and they soon had enough cleared that she was able to climb out.

"Here," Kairi said, casting a Cure spell for the scratches he had gotten on his hands. "Thanks, Lea. I owe you one."

"No problem," Lea answered, shrugging it off. "Let's go catch up to that dragon."

They began jogging across the room just as Sora and Riku tumbled off onto the ground, unable to hang on any longer. The boys seemed fine, though, and everyone took their places again to start the process over. Lea really couldn't tell whether they were making any progress against Maleficent or not. She seemed just as agile and angry as she had been when they started. As he continued to attack his assigned leg, the dragon began to run away again.

"Look out!" Kairi exclaimed. Lea turned just in time to see her leap in front of him and block Maleficent's swinging tail with her Keyblade. The force of the blow sent Kairi tumbling backwards, and Lea caught her under her arms. Standing again, Kairi shoved the tail away, and gave it a good slice before it was out of reach.

"Thanks, Princess," Lea breathed, slightly in shock from the rapid succession of events. "Guess that makes us even now, huh?"

Kairi smiled. "Guess so."

They both ran to catch back up to Maleficent, watching carefully for the tail this time. Just as they began their onslaught once more, Lea caught a glimpse of Sora falling to the ground and smacking the back of his head pretty hard. He cringed sympathetically, watching to see whether Sora would stand back up. In a second, Riku jumped down next to him and began checking him over, casting a Cure spell.

Kairi also saw what had happened, and tried to rush to Sora's side, but Lea put out an arm to stop her. "He's gonna be okay," he told her. "They need our help more right here." He pointed up to the dragon's back. "Come on, let's get up there!"

"Up there?" Kairi repeated incredulously, following his gaze.

"The only way to defeat her is by targeting the head, and the others can't do it right now," Lea pressed. "We've got this!"

Kairi still looked very unsure, but Lea cupped his hands together and held them out for her to step into. She obliged, and he boosted her up onto the base of the tail, watching to make sure she got up safely before jumping and clambering up himself.

Navigating the dragon's back wasn't easy. She was jumping and running around the room, trying to shake the tiny nuisances off, and breathing green fire at those who were still on the ground. Thankfully, though, her scales made decent handholds, and Lea and Kairi were able to crawl slowly on all fours towards her head. When they reached the neck, Lea allowed Kairi to step onto his shoulders and lifted her up, then half-jumped, half-climbed after her. She was already pounding away at the dragon's skull when he reached the top, and as soon he found his balance, he joined in.

"Uh, Lea...?" Kairi was looking down at her hands, which seemed to be emitting an unusual pink glow. The aura was spreading, too, engulfing her whole body and her Keyblade.

"Just go with it!" Lea exclaimed. "Hit her!"

Kairi went after the dragon's head with a new vigor, spinning and slicing with a style that Lea had never seen before. Flower petals showered around her with each hit and flew off the end of her Keyblade in all directions. Lea leaped back out of her way, wobbling dangerously and almost losing his footing completely.

"It's working!" he shouted. The dragon was clearly losing steam, starting to stumble and fall to its knees. With one last spinning leap into the air, Kairi plunged her Keyblade down into the head, and the dragon screamed out in defeat. It began to collapse underneath them, and Lea found himself sliding fast down the neck. "Whoa!"

Lea hit the ground at full force, but allowed himself to collapse into a ball and roll away with only a few minor bumps and bruises. He looked up just in time to see Kairi slide off as well, landing on top of Sora, who had apparently recovered from his head injury and was attempting to catch her. They both tumbled to the floor awkwardly, then threw their arms around each other.

"You did it!" Sora exclaimed, looking at Lea over Kairi's shoulder. "The two of you did it!"

Lea shrugged and jabbed his thumb in Kairi's direction. "That was mostly her," he replied honestly.

"Silly, I wouldn't have even been up there if it hadn't been for you," Kairi smiled at him. Whatever that glow had been, it was gone now, and she was back to normal.

"You were both great," Riku said. "Way to step in where you were needed." He gave Lea a pat on the back. "I'm really proud of how far both of you have come."

They all looked up suddenly as the dragon let out one last shuddering cry, then disappeared in a plume of smoke, leaving behind only Maleficent in her human form. The vines and thorns crumbled and vanished as well, uncovering the computer once more. Pete had run away long ago, probably whenever the fight had gotten uncomfortably close to him.

Lea and the others rose to their feet and readied their weapons, just in case Maleficent tried anything else. But the witch was barely standing, and she breathed heavily as she stumbled toward the computer.

"I...will not...be defeated...by the likes of you!" she screeched. Before they could comprehend what she was doing, she had slammed her hand down on a large yellow button.

"No!" Mickey cried, but it was too late. With one last evil smile, Maleficent vanished into thin air.

"What? Where'd she go?" Sora asked, rushing forward.

"Into the datascape!" Mickey answered, leaping up onto the computer chair and punching buttons furiously. The others watched in silence, not sure what was going on, waiting for the King to speak. After a few long, agonizing minutes, he sighed and turned around to face them.

"Well?" Donald asked impatiently.

"The good news is, I've severed the connection, so she can't come back and make any more trouble here," Mickey replied. "I think I also managed to put up a wall between her and the rest of the datascape, trapping her where she is for now. It won't hold her forever, but she's weakened right now, so it should take her a while to break out." He shrugged. "That's the best I could do."

"How much time do you think we have?" Lea asked.

"Well, we have a choice," Mickey said. "We can go in now, while she's weak, and probably defeat her pretty easily."

Lea glanced around at the others, wondering if the thought of another world and more fighting made them feel as weary as it did him. The looks on their faces confirmed it.

"On the other hand," Mickey continued, "I think we're all pretty worn out ourselves. We wouldn't want things to get out of hand in the datascape just because we pushed too hard. I suggest that you all head back to Radiant Garden and get some rest. I'll stay here and keep an eye on things. Make sure Maleficent stays put, and that Pete doesn't come back to try to help her."

"Are you sure, Your Majesty?" Sora asked, concern in his eyes.

Mickey nodded firmly. "Yep! I'll contact you if anything happens. Otherwise, you can just come back and tackle this problem when everyone feels ready."

Everyone nodded, looking at each other to make sure all were in agreement. "Okay then," said Sora.

"Some rest would definitely be nice," Kairi agreed. "It's been a long few days."

As if on cue, Riku began to sway slightly. "Yeah," he said weakly. "I think I could use..." Before he could finish his sentence, his legs buckled underneath him. Sora jumped behind him and caught his head and shoulders just before they hit the ground, though the impact knocked him down.

"Riku!" Kairi cried. "What's wrong with him?"

The others all ran over to see what had happened. Mickey felt of Riku's forehead while Lea unzipped his black shirt to check his chest wound. It seemed to have healed up fine, and there was no new blood.

"I think he just passed out," Lea concluded. "He must have pushed himself too hard."

"But I thought he was healed," Kairi said.

"His injuries are, sure," Mickey replied. "But his body has still been through a lot. He lost a lot of blood from those wounds, and there's no telling what else he's been through these last few days."

"We should get him back to the gummi ship," Sora said, trying to lift his friend up out of his lap.

"I've got him." Lea pulled Riku into a sitting position by his arms, then scooped him up with his shoulder, letting Riku's head and upper body hang over onto his back.

Sora smiled a little despite his obvious worry. "Riku's not gonna be happy if he finds out you had to carry him out of here."

"Nope," Lea smirked. "But he doesn't really have a choice about accepting help this time, does he?"


	33. Respite

Riku woke to the sensation of his forehead being gently dabbed with a wet cloth. Blinking his eyes open, he found himself lying on his back, with Kairi sitting over him, smiling.

"Hey there, stranger," she greeted him. "Welcome back."

Running a hand through his silver hair, Riku tried to clear his foggy brain. "What happened?" he asked hoarsely.

"You passed out right before we left Enchanted Dominion," Sora answered, leaning into view. "We brought you back to Merlin's house to recover."

"How long was I out?" Riku asked.

"Quite a while," Sora smiled.

"We were all a bit worried about you," Mickey piped up, stepping up to the bed that Riku was lying on. "But we figured you just needed some rest."

Riku turned to look at the King, confused. "Your Majesty, I thought you..."

"Goofy and Donald volunteered to stay behind instead, so that King Mickey could come with us," Sora explained. "They knew he didn't really want to leave you like that."

"I was just trying to clean your face up a little," Kairi offered, holding up the cloth in her hand. "It was still all bloody from that cut. In fact, there's still a little right there..." Leaning forward again, she softly wiped his temple. "There, that's better."

"I appreciate everyone's concern," Riku said honestly. It did make him feel a little awkward, having his friends dote on him like this. But for once in his life he wasn't going to complain or try to push them away. He had spent the last few days not knowing whether he was ever going to see them again, and he knew they had been through an emotional wringer on his behalf, too. So, just this once, he would gladly accept the attention, for his sake and theirs.

Riku started to sit up, but noticed for the first time that he was bare-chested beneath the light blanket. Kairi must have followed his gaze, because she hurried to explain. "We cleaned up your chest wound, too," she said. "And your back."

"That shirt and vest had to be thrown out," Sora added apologetically. "But Leon said you could borrow one of his shirts." He held out a plain white t-shirt, which Riku took gratefully and began to slip over his head. That was when he also noticed the splint on his left wrist.

"Aerith made that for you," Sora told him. "I don't know what you did to that wrist, but it was pretty nasty looking. All black and purple..." Riku thought he saw Kairi give a small shudder out of the corner of his eye. "Anyway," Sora continued, "That should hold it for now. She said that when we get back home you should get a doctor to put a proper cast on it, though."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Riku said with a slight smile, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Thanks, guys. I really mean it." He looked around the room at each and every one of the dear friends present there. "Thanks for everything. For giving up the data to try to save me, and for never giving up on me. At least until you thought I was dead," he shrugged, "Which is perfectly understandable. I wouldn't have made it out of that castle if it hadn't been for all of you, so...thank you."

"Of course," Sora beamed. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Right," Riku smiled back at him.

"We're just so glad to have you back," Kairi put in.

"Are you hungry?" Mickey asked.

"Ravenous," Riku answered. His stomach felt like a bottomless abyss.

"Bet Maleficent didn't feed you anything while you were there," Lea spoke up for the first time from his seat at the foot of the bed.

Riku shook his head. "Nope. Hospitality isn't exactly her strong suit."

"Here you go," said Mickey, holding out a plate of food. "Compliments of Merlin. Take it easy, though. You don't need to eat too fast."

Riku did his best to follow the King's instructions, despite his strong desire to scarf down everything all at once. "Speaking of Maleficent," he said between bites, "What's the plan?"

Mickey smiled. "Right now the plan is to let you rest some more. No need to rush yourself."

"Okay, fine," Riku sighed reluctantly. "But what about after that?"

"Yeah, we can't just leave her in there, can we?" Sora questioned.

"No, we can't," Mickey answered. "We have to keep her from taking over or destroying the datascape. Those worlds might only be made of data, but they're still worth protecting."

"Didn't you say that there are data versions of us in there?" Riku asked. "Maybe they'll be able to finish her off."

"Yes, there are," Mickey agreed. "I'm sure they'll be a great help. We need to at least warn them about what's happening, though, and I'd like to be able to offer them our assistance."

Everyone nodded and murmured their agreement. "How exactly does that work, though?" Lea asked uncertainly. "Would we...go in there?"

"Yep," said Mickey. "But only if you want to, of course. I'm not gonna force anyone to come who doesn't feel comfortable with it."

"I'm in!" Sora exclaimed, waving his hand in the air enthusiastically. "I wanna meet myself!"

Kairi laughed. "I'm in, too!"

"Count me in," Riku agreed. "No way I'm not helping get rid of that witch once and for all."

"Me, too," Lea said. "We worked too hard getting this far to give up now."

"Alright," Mickey nodded. "Great! We'll do it together."

"Together," Sora smiled.

"All of us together," Kairi emphasized, wrapping her arms around Riku and giving him a squeeze. "You're not allowed to leave us ever again."

Riku laughed and reciprocated the hug. "Don't worry, I don't plan on it anytime soon."

 _ **FIN**_


	34. Final Notes

UPDATE:

Sorrow's Promise is live! See the first chapter here: s/13078830/1/Sorrow-s-Promise

* * *

So, we've come to the end of my very first full-length fanfic! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you to everyone who read it, and special thanks to everyone who left reviews! Those always mean a lot to me. I would love final reviews from you all, too, to let me know what you thought of the story and my writing as a whole.

I'm completely addicted to writing fanfiction now, so you can definitely be expecting to hear more from me in the near future! My next story will include an OC, and is set during Days/KH2. It's going to be a good bit longer than this one was – I'm currently 81,200 words in, with a few chapters left to go, and this one was 53,700 total. I also hope it's going to be better than this one was, since I plan on doing much more extensive editing on it! There were several things in this fic that I already wished I had done differently by the time I was posting it. Anyway, that means I'm not sure how much longer it will be before it's ready to post. So if you are interested, follow me and/or stay tuned, and keep your eye out for "Sorrow's Promise"! I'm super excited about it, and hope you will fall in love with my OC as much as I have!

See you all again soon! Let your hearts be your guiding key!


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